Pascale Cossart facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pascale Cossart
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Cossart in 2013.
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| Born | 21 March 1948 |
| Alma mater | Lille University, Georgetown University, University of Paris |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Bacteriology |
| Institutions | Pasteur Institute |
Pascale Cossart (born March 21, 1948) is a famous French scientist. She studies tiny living things called bacteria. She works at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
Professor Cossart is a top expert on a dangerous food germ called Listeria monocytogenes. This germ can cause serious sicknesses like brain infections (encephalitis), swelling around the brain (meningitis), blood infections (bacteremia), and stomach problems (gastroenteritis).
Contents
About Pascale Cossart
Pascale Cossart was born in northern France in 1948. She grew up and went to school in a town called Arras.
Education and Early Career
Cossart studied at Lille University. She earned her first science degrees there in 1968. Later, she got a chemistry degree from Georgetown University in the United States in 1971. She then earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1977. She did this research at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Paris.
After her Ph.D., she continued her research at the Pasteur Institute. Today, she is a Professor there. She also leads a special team called the "Unité des Interactions Bactéries Cellules." This team studies how bacteria interact with cells.
What Pascale Cossart Studies
Professor Cossart's main research focuses on how certain bacteria infect cells. These are called intracellular bacteria. Her most important work is on Listeria monocytogenes.
Understanding Listeria
Listeria is a type of bacteria that can spread through food. It causes many illnesses and can be very dangerous. About 30 out of every 100 people who get sick from it might not survive.
Listeria is a great example for scientists to study. It's a tough germ that can live inside many different types of cells. It can also cross many barriers in the body. For example, it can cross the blood–brain barrier into the brain. It can also cross the intestinal barrier and even the placental barrier in pregnant women.
Professor Cossart's work has helped us understand how Listeria is so strong and deadly. She found out how its genes work. She also discovered how Listeria uses a special protein called ActA to move around inside cells.
Key Discoveries
Cossart's team found a gene called bsh in Listeria. They also found a special RNA "thermosensor." This sensor helps Listeria's genes turn on or off depending on the temperature. This controls how dangerous the bacteria becomes.
One of her big discoveries was how Listeria gets into cells. She found that a protein from Listeria, called internalin, connects with a protein on our cells, called E-cadherin. This connection is how the bacteria can cross important barriers in the body, like the placenta. This was the first time scientists clearly showed how a bacteria uses this kind of molecular "key and lock" system to get past our body's defenses.
Mapping Bacterial Genes
In 2009, Professor Cossart created the first "bacterial operon map" for Listeria. Think of it like a detailed instruction manual for the bacteria. This map shows how Listeria's genes are controlled in different environments. By comparing Listeria from soil and from the human body, she found new types of non-coding RNAs. These RNAs help make Listeria more harmful.
New Tools for Science
As part of her work, Cossart also created important tools for other scientists. She developed a special transgenic mouse. This mouse was the first animal model that could be infected by Listeria in the same way humans are. This was a big step because it helped scientists study the bacteria better. The mouse had a human version of a cell receptor that Listeria uses to enter cells.
Awards and Honors
Pascale Cossart has received many important awards for her amazing work.
- She won the Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology in 1995.
- In 1998, she received the Richard Lounsbery Award and the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.
- She was given the Robert Koch Prize in 2007.
- In 2008, she received the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine.
- She was honored with the Balzan Prize in 2013 for her research on infectious diseases.
- In 2017, she received the Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine.
- She is also a member of important science groups like the French Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London.
See also
In Spanish: Pascale Cossart para niños
