Pasteur celebrates its founder’s two centuries with a lesson learned from covid: Science

The renowned medical research center, which has 10 Nobel laureates, is taking advantage of Pasteur’s anniversary both to highlight the legacy of this key figure in immunization and to take stock of the Institute’s work during the covid crisis.

Jean-Claude Manuguerra, one of the eminences in the identification of new pathogens, receives EFE in his laboratory, located in one of Pasteur’s 19th century buildings.

The sadness of not having made a sufficiently effective covid vaccine between 2020 and 2021 is still present.

“As a Pasteur worker, I am completely devastated for not having made one made by our Institute, but we have done our part in other areas, such as the diagnosis and evolution of variants,” the director of the Emergency Biological Intervention Cell stalled of the Institute.

Although the name Pasteur and vaccines are closely associated — rabies inoculation was discovered in 1885 by Louis Pasteur — Manuguerra said the Institute “learns lessons about the pandemic every day.”

He regretted that in France the chain leading to medical advances – from theory, through clinical research and industry – is slow, unlike in the United States or Germany.

“We lack structures that lead us to depend on third parties. When we have a vaccine that doesn’t work, we cannot change our strategy, because our terms are longer,” he explained.

According to Manuguerra, the market trend has also “killed innovation” due to the mergers and acquisitions carried out by large pharmaceutical laboratories, leaving small innovative companies out of the game.

However, the infectious disease specialist insists on seeing the glass as half full, thanks in part to the contribution of the European Union (EU) which, in his view, has allowed “funding and a way to keep the place” of European science in the world .

‘Europe has not lost the race for science, we have to keep running,’ he said.

LOUIS PASTEUR, A WORLD LEGACY

On the occasion of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Louis Pasteur, born in the Jura on December 27, 1822, Manuguerra highlighted how this pioneer of vaccination and of techniques such as pasteurization (thermal process to reduce pathogens in foods such as milk) still inspires generations of researchers around the world.

“We are very proud to belong to the Institute, it is a well-known name. There are streets, squares, avenues with the Pasteur name all over the world. Thanks to him, progress has been made in human health, which has meant saving lives,” She said. .

The “demand and excellence” transmitted by Louis Pasteur are still a tangible legacy, as is the multidisciplinary nature of his research, from chemistry to biology. Contrary to popular belief, the scientist was not a doctor and never inoculated any patient with the vaccines he designed, despite being photographed with an injection in his hand.

Finally, Manuguerra highlighted the importance of the fact that the Institute has remained a non-profit and “independent” foundation, 135 years after its foundation.

At Pasteur, created in 1887 south of Paris a short distance from Montparnasse station, around 2,800 people work today, half of whom are researchers from 77 different countries. There are branches of the Institute in 25 countries, including Uruguay and Brazil.

BURIED IN THE INSTITUTE ITSELF

Married to Marie Pasteur and father of five children -of which only two reached adulthood, two-, the inventor of pasteurization dedicated himself to his work, so much so that he ended up residing at the Institute he founded.

There he spent the last seven years of his life. From 1935 the headquarters became the Pasteur museum, where pieces of his personal and professional legacy are collected.

His mortal remains lie a few meters below, in a neo-Byzantine-inspired crypt, where he is buried together with his wife Marie and the famous doctor Émile Roux, a close collaborator of Pasteur.