Pascale Cossart has since 1986 investigated how bacterial pathogens interact with mammalian cells during infection. She has pioneered and documented in details how bacteria by using a multitude of complementary strategies, – including posttranslational modifications, epigenetic modifications and innate immunity mechanisms -enter into non-phagocytic cells and multiply therein, move intra-and intercellularly, and counteract the arsenal of host cell defenses. Her seminal investigations on the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes -that she has raised as a model and one of the best studied intracellular pathogens –, have paved the way to laboratories studying bacterial infectious diseases throughout the world. Her contributions encompass infection biology, cell biology, functional genomics and fundamental microbiology, including RNA-mediated regulations.
Pascale Cossart regularly organizes or co-organizes international meetings and courses and also events and tools for the general public, contributing to the Renaissance of Microbiology internationally.
Present Positions
- 2016 – Present | Secrétaire Perpétuel de l’Académie des Sciences
- Emeritus Professor at the Pasteur Institute
Previous Positions
- 1991 – 2019 | Head of the Bacteria-Cell Interactions Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 2006 – 2019 | Professeur de Classe Exceptionnelle à l’Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1997 – 2005 | Professeur à l’Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1988 – 1996 | Chef de Laboratoire à l’Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1980 – 1987 | Chargée de Recherches à l’Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1976 – 1979 | Assistante à l’Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1974 – 1975 | Professeur de Biochimie à l’École Royale de Médecine, Vientiane, Laos
- 1972 – 1974 | Boursière de la Fondation Roux. Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1972 – 1972 | Boursière de la Fondation Philippe. Institut Pasteur, Paris
- 1970 – 1971 | University fellow à Georgetown University, Washington D. C.
- 1969 – 1970 | Assistante à l’IUT de Biologie appliquée de Lille
Fields of Scholarship
- Infection biology, cell biology, epigenetics, fundamental microbiology
Honours and Awards
- 1995 | EMBO member
- 1995 | UNESCO Prize “Carlos Finlay”
- 1997 | Louis Rapkine Medal, Paris, France
- 1998 | L’Oreal/UNESCO Award for Women in Science, Paris, France
- 1998 | Richard Lounsbery Prize, Académie des Sciences, Paris/National Academy of Sciences, USA
- 1998 | Academia Europae member
- 1998 | Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, France
- 1999 | Corresponding member of the French Académie des Sciences, Paris, France
- 2000 | NESTLE Prize “L’homme et sa nutrition”
- 2000 | Louis Pasteur Gold Medal, Swedish Society of Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden
- 2000-2017 | Howard Hughes Medical Institute, International Research Scholar
- 2001 | Member of the “Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina”, Halle, Germany
- 2002 | Member of the French Académie des Sciences, Paris, France
- 2002 | Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, France
- 2003 | Valade Senior Prize, Fondation de France, Paris, France
- 2003 -2012 | Member of the CCNE (Comité Consultatif National d’Ethique)
- 2004 | Member of the Academy of Microbiology
- 2005 | INSERM Prize of Fundamental Research, Paris, France
- 2006 | Médaille prestige de l’Institut Cochin, Paris, France
- 2007 | GLAXO SMITH KLINE International Member of the Year Award, ASM, Toronto, Canada
- 2007 | Robert Koch Prize, Berlin, Germany
- 2007 | Officier de la Legion d’honneur, France
- 2008 | René Descartes Prize (2008) for collaborative transnational research, Brussel, Belgium
- 2008 | Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
- 2008 | ERC Advanced Grant Award
- 2009 | Member of the European Academy of Microbiology
- 2009 | Member of the American National Academy of Sciences, USA
- 2009 | Doctor honoris causa, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
- 2010 | Robert Koch Medal of the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
- 2010 | Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS), London, UK
- 2010 | Commandeur de l’Ordre Nationale du Mérite, France
- 2011 | Van Deenen Medal of the Institute of Biomembranes, Utrecht, Netherlands
- 2013 | Hemoltz International Fellow Award, Berlin, Germany
- 2013 | Balzan Prize
, Milan, Italy - 2013 | H.P.R. Seelinger Award, Wurzburg, Germany
- 2014 | Foreign Member of the National Academy of Medicine, USA
- 2014 |FEBS, EMBO Women in Science
- 2014 | Jürgen Manchot-Guest Professorship, Düsseldorf, Germany
- 2015 | ERC Advanced Grant Award
- 2015 | Doctor honoris causa of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
- 2016 | Secrétaire Perpétuel de l’Académie des Sciences
- 2016 | Associate Member of the Académie Nationale de Pharmacie, Paris, France
- 2017 | Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
- 2018 | Prix René et Andrée Duquesne, Paris, France
- 2018 | Heinrich Wieland Prize, Munich, Germany
- 2019 | FEMS-Lwoff Award, Glasgow, UK
- 2020 | Doctor honoris causa of the Karolinska Insitute, Stockholm, Sweden
