Yasmine Belkaid, head of the unit “Meta-organism” and director of the Institut Pasteur, was awarded a Chaire d’excellence by the French Ministry of Research for her project ‘MAMM – First Life Maternal Immunity Control’.
Yasmine Belkaid’s project aims to explore the mother-child immune system during pregnancy. How does the mother’s immune system evolve to adapt to the many changes that happen during the pregnancy? What are the consequences of infection on mother-child immune system? How do adverse events that can affect the mother, such as infection or malnutrition, affect the developing child and later the infant through breastfeeding? All these questions have been largely neglected despite the significant public health implications worldwide. By working with clinicians to establish new cohorts, Yasmine Belkaid’s team will investigate the immune component of the mother-child dyad, a crucial step in developing new strategies to protect mother and child and prevent long-term effects in children, such as inflammatory diseases.
