Olivier Cassar

Olivier Cassar born in 1965, is a former researcher of the Institut Pasteur International network. He studied at the University Paris Diderot in Paris where he earned his Doctorate es Sciences in Virology in 2008. His primary research interests were the molecular epidemiology and physiopathology of dengue viruses. In 2005, he joined the EPVO unit and focused his researches on HTLV-1 and HHV-8 oncogenic viruses. More recently he was also interested in the Merkel cell Polyomavirus etiologically linked to Merkel cell carcinoma, an agressive primary cutaneous cancer.
His work aim to study the global distribution of these viruses and characterize new viral variants to better understand the origin (through interspecies transmission), the evolution (by genetic drift and more rarely by recombination) and the dissemination of these viruses during migration of infected populations. These are mainly individuals from “isolates” of populations and/or “ancient” populations living in Australia (Aborigines), New Caledonia (Melanesians), Cameroon (Pygmy, Bantu) and South America (Native Americans) .
During the recent period (2013-2015), he worked with international teams in Australia (Dr. Lloyd Einsiedel), Canada (Pr. Jacques Pépin) and the USA (Pr. Jean- Laurent Casanova) bringing his expertise in the fields of virology and molecular phylogeny. Meanwhile, he participated in various research projects in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur International Network; in New Caledonia, Cameroon and French Guiana.
Since 2010, he is also greatly involved in the ethical aspects of researches developed in humans, both in the EPVO unit and the Direction of Public Health and Medical Affairs at the Institut Pasteur. Indeed, he is member of the Institutional Ethics Committee of Research “International Review Board Committee” and the Ethics Committee for projects financed by the European Community the “Ethics Board for European contract”.
In 2013, he joined the Scientific Committee of the Clinical Investigation and Access to Biological Resources Platform (ICAReB) of the Institut Pasteur. Finally, in January 2015, he became head of the Tutoring team within the Direction for Education at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.