In December 2024, the Institut Pasteur issued an international call for applications to establish new five-year groups that would conduct research aligned with the Pasteur 2030 Strategic Plan, especially the following four topics:

• Vaccinology and immunotherapies,

• Infectious diseases, with a particular focus on antimicrobial resistance, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology,

• Neuroimmunology and neurodevelopment,

• Maternal and infant health (immunology, infection, pregnancy and development).

On this occasion, and exceptionally, more than 200 applications from all over the world were submitted. and a first selection of 24 was made. The scientific council highlighted the exceptional calibre of these candidates. At the end of the selection process, which concluded with the scientific council interviewing a small number of candidates, the senior management selected four scientists to enable them to create their future five-year group within the Institut Pasteur campus.

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"These young researchers, whom we are delighted to welcome, represent the future of the pasteurian excellence! Using AI for vaccine development, a single-cell approach to better understand pathogen transmission by mosquitoes, deciphering the key stages of brain development, the impact of ageing on our immune system and the development of age-related diseases... These exciting projects, which embody the priorities of our strategic plan, will continue to develop on our campus thanks to the dynamism and creativity of a new generation of researchers. The arrival of four new teams demonstrates our crucial commitment to renewing the excellence of Pasteurian science."

Yasmine Belkaid, President

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"This new call for applications attracted a large number of high-quality candidates, illustrating the appeal of our campus and the science conducted there. The four new teams we are welcoming will enrich our community with their dynamism and scientific curiosity. Welcome to this new generation of Pasteurians!"

Patrick Trieu-Cuot, Vice-President Scientific Affairs
Didier Mazel, Vice-President Scientific Careers and Assessment

The process highlighted both the excellence and appeal of the Institut Pasteur and the wealth of new scientific talent to be honed and nurtured. The new entities will be led by:

Spyros Lytras, Head of the Antigen evolution and design G5

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A virologist by training, Spyros Lytras will develop a project linked to the ‘Vaccinology and Immunotherapies’ research area. The main objective of this G5 will be to create an innovative model based on artificial intelligence tools for vaccine design.

Most pathogens have surface proteins that are recognized by the immune system and prime it to produce antibodies protecting the body from future infections. Vaccines are based on the principle of introducing these proteins in order to activate an immune response before infection by the pathogen. However, antibody responses are specific to the protein recognized by the immune system, and pathogens frequently acquire modifications to their surface proteins to evade existing immunity.

Understanding which parts of proteins can be modified is crucial if we are to design better vaccines capable of inducing stronger, broader immunity. But the interactions between proteins are complex and difficult to establish using current methods.

This new five-year group will apply the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) to study pathogen surface proteins. The same AI technology that has revolutionized natural language processing, with popular examples like ChatGPT and other AI assistants, can also be used to decode the language of proteins. Where tools like ChatGPT predict which word is most likely in a sentence, Spyros Lytras wants to develop tools to predict which amino acid is likely to be found at a specific protein site.

These innovative AI models will be used to study both protein sequences and their 3D structure. Combining these two aspects will help elucidate properties of pathogen proteins, ultimately paving the way for the design of new molecules capable of stimulating the immune system to produce broad-spectrum antibodies that can target novel pathogens or variants of known agents.

This G5 will start in spring 2026.

Sarah Hélène Merkling, Head of the Insect Infection & Immunity (3i) G5

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Sarah Merkling, currently a scientist in the Department of Virology, specializes in entomology, virology and parasitology. Her future five-year group comes under research area "Infectious diseases".

This new G5 will seek to shed light on how mosquitoes interact with viruses that they can transmit to humans, at an extremely detailed level. Rather than studying the mosquito's entire body, the group will develop ‘single cell’ approaches to understand why some mosquitoes allow viruses to develop and spread easily, whereas others are able to combat them. The aim is to devise innovative strategies to prevent mosquito-borne diseases and safeguard global public health.

The research will focus on three main objectives:

• Determining what makes a mosquito cell favorable or hostile to a virus. The scientists will compare infected and non-infected mosquitoes to identify key factors in cells, with the idea of potentially modifying mosquitoes so that they can no longer host viruses, thereby halting viral transmission,

• Identifying the "gateways" used by viruses to enter mosquito cells, especially in the gut. If these entry points could be blocked, viruses would find it much more difficult to infect insects, potentially reducing the spread of disease. These cellular gateways could serve as the basis for a new type of vaccine capable of blocking viruses in mosquitoes,

• Studying how viruses change and evolve as they pass through the mosquito's body. Understanding this process could help scientists to understand how the virus adapts and devise methods to disrupt its life cycle.

This G5 will begin in January 2026.

Morgane Thion, Head of the Developmental Neuroimmunology at the Maternal-Fetal G5, CNRS

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This new G5 is related to both research area "Neuroimmunology and neurodevelopment", and area "Maternal and infant health". Currently a team leader at the Collège de France, Morgane Thion is interested in microglia, a specific type of immune cell in the brain that plays a key role in brain development. While microglia are known for shaping the connections between neurons, recent research suggests that they might also play a role in building and maintaining the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a highly specialized selective filter that protects the brain from toxic substances. If the BBB does not form correctly or is weakened, it can contribute to various brain conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer's disease. But scientists do not yet fully understand how the BBB develops during pregnancy and which factors influence its maturation. 

The team will use advanced imaging techniques and genetic tools to elucidate the mutual relationship between microglia and the BBB, examining how microglia interact with blood vessels to support BBB formation and how the BBB in turn is involved in microglia development. The G5 will also examine how the mother's microbiota affects fetal brain development.

By shining a light on these early biological processes, this cross-disciplinary research can provide information about brain development and identify new ways of supporting maternal and fetal health. In the long term, this knowledge could be used to develop strategies to protect the brain as it develops, potentially reducing the risk of neurological damage later in life.

This G5 will start in spring 2026.

Nader Yatim, Head of the Myeloid Biology in Ageing and Disease G5

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A physician-researcher who completed his PhD at the Institut Pasteur, Nader Yatim is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (United States). In line with the ‘Vaccinology and Immunotherapies’ research area, his work will aim to better understand the impact of ageing on our immune system in order to better combat inflammation. As we age, the immune system becomes weaker, making the body more vulnerable to infections, cancers and chronic diseases such as heart disease. mutations that build up over time. It is now established that ageing affects the production of blood and immune cells, partly due to genetic mutations that accumulate over time. The G5's research, led by Nader Yatim, will investigate a hidden factor known as transposable elements (TEs), which may be speeding up this process. These ancient viral sequences in our DNA can influence gene activity and inflammation.

One task of the G5 study the role of these TEs in blood stem cells during the aging process to understand their role in immune decline. The team will also investigate how genetic mutations influence TE expression to cause chronic inflammation, a key factor in many age-related diseases.

Working in collaboration with clinicians, the scientists will analyze patients who develop systemic inflammatory diseases late in life to test the theory that inflammation is caused by these genetic and molecular changes. The long-term aim is to develop innovative treatments that can slow down or even reverse immune aging, improving the quality of life of elderly people. This research will bridge basic science and clinical applications, potentially paving the way for novel strategies to prevent age-related diseases and help people live longer, healthier lives.

This G5 will be launched in one year.

The Institut Pasteur management team will repeat this process every year to support the Strategic Plan and its scientific priorities.