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Document de presse | 2006.10.19
Identification of a gene responsible for auditory neuropathies: hope for children suffering from profound deafness
A gene in which mutations cause profound irreversible deafness in newborn children has been identified by the team led by Professor Christine Petit at the Pasteur Institute, in association with Inserm, the Pierre et Marie Curie University and the Collège de France. The discovery which has just been published in the journal Cell has led these researchers to uncover the role of its encoded protein...
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Document de presse | 2006.09.04
Rapid Diagnosis Tests for Meningococcal Meningitis
New tests for rapid diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis have been developed and validated by the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and by CERMES in Niamey (Niger), an associated institute in the International Network of Instituts Pasteur. These tests can be used at the patient's bedside, and are formatted in two dipsticks, which can diagnose 4 serogroups of meningococcus (A, C, W135 and Y). They...
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Document de presse | 2006.09.03
Biofilms and nosocomial infections: a riposte, at last?
A research team from the Institut Pasteur in association with the French National Research Institute (CNRS) has just characterised a molecule that can inhibit the formation of biofilms, agglomerates of bacteria attached to surfaces, which are the source of a large number of nosocomial diseases. In an article published in PNAS, researchers have shown that this molecule is a complex sugar secreted...
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Document de presse | 2006.08.31
Malaria Parasite: The Trojan Horse strategy revealed
A team from the Pasteur Institute has just uncovered a subtle mechanism used by the parasite that is responsible for malaria to escape from the immune system during a crucial stage of its cycle inside its mammalian host. This has been made possible thanks to in vivo imaging techniques that make it possible to follow the parasite in real time inside the host organism. This discovery - published in...
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Document de presse | 2006.06.24
Immortal DNA in skeletal muscle stem cells
Researchers at the Pasteur Institute show for the first time the mechanism which adult skeletal muscle stem cells can use to protect their genome from mutations. Before cell division, DNA is duplicated, and each daughter cell inherits one copy. During DNA synthesis, however, errors can arise from this imperfect process. Over time, repeated rounds of cell divisions result in the accumulation of...
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Document de presse | 2006.06.25
Hereditary deafness - Discovery of a gene essential for a proper communication between the ear and the brain
Professor Christine Petit's team at the Institut Pasteur Genetics of Sensory Defects Unit, in collaboration with INSERM* and the Collège de France, has recently identified mutations in a gene which, contrary to all other mutations of the deafness genes identified to date, do not cause a dysfunction in the auditory sensory organ, the cochlea. Based on the development of a mouse model, the...
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Document de presse | 2006.06.14
Brain research: how is our reward system activated?
Researchers at the Pasteur Institute and the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm), have recently decoded the molecular bases of our reward system activation, a system which plays a central role in drug dependence. Their work was published in Neuron on 15 June 2006. Press release Paris, june 15, 2006...
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Document de presse | 2006.06.07
Gene expression is governed by spatial organization in the nucleus
Teams at the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with the CNRS *, have recently discovered an fundamental aspect of cell biology and gene regulation. The results of this work, published in Nature, were obtained by means of the most up-to-date microscopy and image analysis technologies. The researchers were able to observe the position of a gene in real time during its activation and to found that...
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Document de presse | 2006.06.05
AIDS: discovery of a new mechanism induced by HIV to modulate the immune system
Researchers from the Pasteur Institute and the CNRS* have revealed a novel mechanism utilized by the AIDS virus (HIV) to modulate the host immune response. They have shown that the virus substantially reduces contacts between the HIV-1 infected T lymphocytes and other cells of the immune system. These cells contacts are crucial to the triggering of adequate immune response. Their work is...
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Document de presse | 2006.05.22
Origine and microevolution of the Chikungunya viruses responsible for the Indian Ocean outbreaks Complete sequencing of the genomes of 6 viral strains
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur have managed to retrace the origin and evolution of the Chikungunya virus in the Indian Ocean through complete sequencing of the genome of six viral strains isolated from patients from Reunion Island and the Seychelles, as well as through partial sequencing of the viral protein E1 from 127 patients from the Indian Ocean islands (Reunion,Madagascar, Seychelles,...
