Pascale Cossart PhD

After studying chemistry in Lille (France), Prof. Pascale Cossart obtained her master's degree at Georgetown University (Washington, D.C., USA). Back in France, she obtained her Ph.D. in Paris at the Institut Pasteur where she is now heading the “Bacteria-Cell Interactions” unit. After studying DNA-protein interactions, in 1986 she started to study the molecular and cellular basis of infections by intracellular bacteria using as a model the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Her research has led to new concepts in infection and cell biology, and she is considered a pioneer in the field of cellular microbiology.

Prof. Cossart’s scientific contributions have been recognized by several international awards, including the L’Oreal/Unesco Prize for Women in Science (1998), the Richard Lounsbery Prize, (1998), the Robert Koch Prize (2007), the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2008), the Balzan Prize (2013) and the Heinrich Wieland Prize (2018). She is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, of the German Leopoldina, of the Royal Society, of the National Academy of Medicine, and since January 2016 Secrétaire Perpétuel de l’Académie des Sciences.