Call for nominations
ABOUT THE PRIZE
Madame Andrée Duquesne has designated the Comité de Paris de la Ligue contre le Cancer and the Institut Pasteur as joint legatees. According to her testamentary dispositions, the interests of her entire estate are to be used annually to finance two research prizes. The recipients of these prizes are chosen by her two legatees: the Comité de Paris de la Ligue contre le Cancer selects one laureate (working on cancer), and the Institut Pasteur selects another (all fields are eligible).
Prize amount*: €75,000 (€20,000 for the laureate, €55,000 for the laboratory).
*Please not that this prize amount will be subject to adjustments in accordance with applicable tax regulations. The final amount awarded will take into account any deductions required by law.
NOMINATOR ELIGIBILITY
- Heads of entities, group leaders, emeritus and honorary professors working at the Institut Pasteur are eligible to nominate a candidate.
- Nominations from nominators who collaborates or have collaborated with the nominee within the last five years are not accepted.
- Members of the Institut Pasteur Scientific Council and of the Institut Pasteur Direction are not eligible to nominate a candidate, however members of their laboratories may be nominated.
- Each Nominator may submit only one nomination per award.
NOMINEE ELIGIBILITY
- All research fields are eligible for the Institut Pasteur nominee.
- Eligible nominees must have worked at the Institut Pasteur for a minimum of five years and must hold, at the time of application, a permanent position either at the Institut Pasteur or as OREX (CNRS, Inserm, INRA, etc.).
- Awardees are not eligible for another award for a period of five years following the last award obtained (see below for the list of laureates of the last five years). For the 2026 call, laureates who obtained an Institut Pasteur prize in 2020 or later are not eligible.
- The prize cannot be awarded to a principal investigator (PI) whose entity is scheduled to close within two years following the prize attribution.
- Self-nomination is not allowed.
SELECTION OF LAUREATES
- The Institut Pasteur Scientific Council will select the laureate of the Duquesne Prize at its annual meeting in March 2026. Members of the Institut Pasteur Scientific Council are listed at this address: https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/institut-pasteur/conseil-scientifique
- The selection is subject to approval by the President of the Institut Pasteur.
- As part of the award, the laureate commits to serving on the jury responsible for selecting the laureates of other Institut Pasteur Prizes (Canetti, Ullmann and IPYSA). The laureate will be invited to participate in the jury meeting (two-hours meeting) scheduled for September 2026.
SUBMITTING A NOMINATION
The complete nomination file (click) should be sent as a single pdf file to hafida.fsihi@pasteur.fr no later than February 13, 2026 (6 PM).
Nomination files remain eligible for two years and may be updated provided that (i) the nominator still agrees with the nomination and (ii) the nominee remains eligible for the Prize.
ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO APPLY
- PAST LAUREATES OF THE DUQUESNE PRIZE:
Carmen Buchrieser (2025), Artur Scherf (2024), Thomas Bourgeron (2023); Olivier Schwartz (2022); Sylvie van der Werf (2021); Shahragim Tajbakhsh (2020); Lluis Quintana-Murci (2019); Pascale Cossart (2018); Marc Lecuit (2017); Anavaj Sakuntabhaj (2016); Arnaud Fontanet (2015); Anne Dejean (2014); Pierre-Jean Corringer (2013); Antoine Gessain (2012); Philippe Sansonetti (2011); Uwe Maskos (2010); Bernard Dujon (2009); Felix Rey (2008).
2. LAUREATES OF INSTITUT PASTEUR PRIZE FROM THE LAST FIVE YEARS
- Canetti Prize (2020-2025):
Céline Loot (2025); Mathieu Picardeau (2024) ; Sylvain Brisse (2023) ; Olaya Rendules (2022) ; Etienne Simon-Lorière (2021); Mélanie Hamon (2020).
- Vallery-Radot Prize (2020-2025):
Molly Ingersoll & Pablo Navarro-Gil (2025), Rayan Chikhi & Darragh Duffy (2024) ; Ludovic Deriano & Romain Levayer (2023) ; Germano Cecere & Francesca Dinunzio (2022) ; Jérôme Gros & Etienne Patin (2021); Pierre Bruhns & Louis Lambrechts (2020).
- Agnes Ullmann.Prize (since 2023)
Sarah Merkling &Nicola Festuccia (2025); Zeynep Baharoglu & Thomas Rolland, (2024) Marija Backovic & Ludovic Sauguet (2023)
- Lebrasseur Prize (2019-2024): The Lebrasseur Prize will not be launched in 2026
Marcel Hollenstein (2024); Frédéric Barras (2023); Mart Krupovic (2021); Didier Ménard (2020).
- Zermati Prize* (2020-2025): (*The Zermati Prize is not any more available)
Christophe Beloin & Micheline Fromont-Racine (2022); Rachel Golub (2020)
