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Document de presse | 2016.02.01
Listeria: hypervirulent strains with cerebral and placental tropism
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS and Paris Descartes – Sorbonne Paris Cité University recently published a large-scale study in Nature Genetics based on almost 7,000 strains of Listeria monocytogenes — the bacterium responsible for human listeriosis, a severe foodborne infection. Through the integrative analysis of epidemiological, clinical and microbiological data, the...
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Document de presse | 2016.01.27
Tuberculosis: discovery of a critical stage in the evolution of the bacillus towards pathogenicity
It is the disappearance of a glycolipid from the bacterial cell envelope during evolution that may have considerably increased the virulence of tuberculosis bacilli in humans. Scientists from the CNRS, the Institut Pasteur and the Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier[1] have shown that this disappearance modified the surface properties of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, favoring its...
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Document de presse | 2016.02.16
Calpains, key cellular enzymes for fighting influenza
Why not fight the influenza virus by blocking the cellular machinery it uses for replication? Researchers from Inserm (Unit 1100, “Respiratory Pathologies: Proteolysis and Aerosoltherapy”), Institut Pasteur and the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole in Hong Kong tested this hypothesis by specifically targeting the calpains, proteases involved in inflammatory mechanisms. Their results, obtained...
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Document de presse | 2016.03.01
Zika: Confirmation of a causal link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barré Syndrome
Using data collected in French Polynesia, researchers from the Institut Pasteur, the CNAM (Conservatoire national des arts et métiers), the Institut Louis Malardé, the French Polynesia Hospital Centre, and the Public Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), have shown that infection by the Zika Virus (ZIKV) increases the likelihood of contracting Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a severe form of limb paralysis...
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Document de presse | 2016.03.03
Antibodies capable of eliminating HIV-infected cells
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur, CNRS and Vaccine Research Institute (ANRS/Inserm) have recently shown that some effective antibodies recognize cells infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and trigger their destruction by the immune system. This discovery sheds new light on the mechanism of action of these specific antibodies, which are currently undergoing clinical trials....
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Document de presse | 2016.03.07
Obesity: an epigenetic track to fight against weight gain and hypercholesterolemia
The number of obesity cases has doubled since 1980: in 2014, over 600 million adults were affected across the world. The causes of this epidemic include unbalanced diet, as well as environmental and genetic factors. French INRA researchers, in association with colleagues from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS and the University of Cambridge (UK), reveal that an epigenetic factor, the BAHD1...
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Document de presse | 2016.03.16
Zika and microcephaly: first trimester of pregnancy most critical
A new analysis of data from the 2013-2014 Zika epidemic in French Polynesia by scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Paris, and their French Polynesian colleagues has confirmed the incidence of grouped cases of microcephaly and quantified the risk of microcephaly associated with the virus. Using innovative mathematical modeling techniques, their research shows that the risk of microcephaly is...
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Document de presse | 2016.03.21
A genomic study of epidemic dysentery: how Europe exported a scourge worldwide
Scientists at the Institut Pasteur and its International Network, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Cambridge, United Kingdom) and several international institutions have just published an exceptionally wide-ranging study tracing the history of the bacillus responsible for epidemic dysentery – one of the worst scourges to afflict humans throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This vast...
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Document de presse | 2016.03.04
Low competence of Aedes mosquitoes for Zika virus transmission
The Institut Pasteur's Arboviruses and Insect Vectors Unit, led by Anna-Bella Failloux, working in cooperation with the Institut Pasteur International Network (the Institut Pasteur in Guadeloupe, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana, the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz and the Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia) and the Centre for Mosquito Control in Martinique, has carried out a study on the...
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Document de presse | 2016.03.23
Lluis Quintana-Murci appointed as Scientific Director of the Institut Pasteur
On March 23, the Institut Pasteur announced that Lluis Quintana-Murci had been appointed as Scientific Director. This new position has been created in connection with the implementation of the general strategic plan adopted by the Institut Pasteur management. Lluis Quintana-Murci, a member of the Executive Board, will serve as the person of reference and coordinator for the Institut Pasteur's...
