Philippe J. Sansonetti (born 9 April 1949) is a French microbiologist, professor at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

and the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

in Paris. He is the director of the

Inserm The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution ...

Unit 786 (Microbial colonisation and invasion of mucosa) and of the Institut Pasteur laboratory Pathogénie Microbienne Moléculaire.

Education

Philippe Sansonetti completed General Microbiology, General Virology and Immunology courses at the Institut Pasteur and received his MS degree in Biochemistry/Microbiology from the University Paris VII Diderot in 1978 and obtained his MD degree from the University Paris VI in 1979. After a research fellowship at the Unité de Bactériologie Médicale headed by Léon Le Minor, he undertook a post-doctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Samuel Formal in the Department of Enteric Diseases at the

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The institute is centered at the Forest Glen Annex, in the Forest Glen Park part of the u ...

, Washington, D.C. He returned to the

in 1981 to the Enterobacteria Unit (Unité des entérobactéries) where he started his own research group. In 1989, he created and headed the Unité de Pathogénie Microbienne Moléculaire (Molecular Microbial Pathogenesis Unit). He practiced

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

at the Institut Pasteur hospital (1981–1985) before becoming head of its

outpatient clinic An outpatient department or outpatient clinic is the part of a hospital designed for the treatment of outpatients, people with health problems who visit the hospital for diagnosis or treatment, but do not at this time require a bed or to be admit ...

(1985–1995) and then becoming its medical director (1995–1999 and 2004–2007). He was chairman of its Departments of Bacteriology and Mycology (1989–1992) and Cell Biology and Infection (2002–2006). Sansonetti has held several scientific administration positions at INSERM, French Ministry of Research and Technology, as well as at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

where he was chairman of the Steering committee on Diarrheal Diseases Vaccine Development.

Work and honours

Research performed by Philippe Sansonetti has mainly been focused on the understanding of several aspects of the pathogenesis of ''

Shigella ''Shigella'' is a genus of bacteria that is Gram negative, facultatively anaerobic, non–spore-forming, nonmotile, rod shaped, and is genetically nested within ''Escherichia''. The genus is named after Kiyoshi Shiga, who discovered it in 1 ...

'', a bacterium causing severe diarrhoea. His work spans a large set of disciplines in biology and medicine and ranges from molecular genetics, to cell biology,

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

and the development of

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an ag ...

against

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

. Sansonetti's laboratory has notably shown that ''Shigella'' pathogenesis is imparted by a large virulence plasmid containing a

pathogenicity island Pathogenicity islands (PAIs), as termed in 1990, are a distinct class of genomic islands acquired by microorganisms through horizontal gene transfer. Pathogenicity islands are found in both animal and plant pathogens. Additionally, PAIs are found i ...

encoding a

type three secretion system The type III secretion system (T3SS or TTSS) is one of the bacterial secretion systems used by bacteria to secretion, secrete their Bacterial effector protein, effector proteins into the host's cells to promote virulence and Colonisation (biology ...

required for entry into

epithelial cells Epithelium or epithelial tissue is a thin, continuous, protective layer of cells with little extracellular matrix. An example is the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin. Epithelial ( mesothelial) tissues line the outer surfaces of man ...

; characterised the molecular mechanisms leading to ''Shigella'' epithelial cell invasion and intracellular motility; demonstrated that ''Shigella'' kills

macrophage Macrophages (; abbreviated MPhi, φ, MΦ or MP) are a type of white blood cell of the innate immune system that engulf and digest pathogens, such as cancer cells, microbes, cellular debris and foreign substances, which do not have proteins that ...

s by

pyroptosis Pyroptosis is a highly inflammatory form of lytic programmed cell death that occurs most frequently upon infection with intracellular pathogens and is likely to form part of the antimicrobial response. This process promotes the rapid clearance of ...

; identified that intracellular bacteria are detected by Nod proteins leading to production of

pro-inflammatory cytokine An inflammatory cytokine or proinflammatory cytokine is a type of signaling molecule (a cytokine) that is secreted from immune cells like helper T cells (Th) and macrophages, and certain other cell types that promote inflammation. They include int ...

s and identified a pool of ''Shigella'' effectors controlling both

innate {{Short pages monitor