FRANÇOISEBARRÉ-SINOUSSI
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008
© Institut Pasteur
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi dedicated her career as a scientist and as an activist to halting the spread of AIDS. Her discovery of HIV led to blood tests that could detect the infection, and ultimately to anti retroviral medications that have turned AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable chronic disease. For the people around the world who don’t have access to AIDS drugs, Barré-Sinoussi has been a tireless advocate.
Thin-section transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image of the ultrastructural details of a number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) particles, or virions CDC/ A. Harrison; Dr. P. Feorino
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, born in Paris in 1947 and raised in the city, treasured her summers in the countryside.
Even the smallest of insects could capture my attention for hours.
FRANÇOISE BARRÉ-SINOUSSI
Passionate about science, she enrolled in the biomedical science programme at the University of Paris, at age 19. She was impatient with lectures, and would skip class to work at the Pasteur Institute, where Jean-Claude Chermann was studying retroviruses that caused leukaemia in mice.
(Audio) Françoise Barré-Sinoussi discusses the sexism she has encountered in her career The Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative (Image) Françoise Barré-Sinoussi © Institut Pasteur
The HIV 1 virus shown under a microscope. Charles Dauguet/Science Source
Retroviruses are particularly nasty infectious agents, which trick host cells into believing its DNA is part of the host cell’s own code. The host cell then copies it over and over, making a swarm of new retroviruses to invade new healthy cells.
The complete AIDS research team in 1985, including Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (in front, with arms crossed) and Jean-Claude Chermann © Institut Pasteur
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (centre) with a team of virologists at the Pasteur Institute © Institut Pasteur
The complete AIDS research team in 1985, including Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (in front, with arms crossed) and Jean-Claude Chermann © Institut Pasteur
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (centre) with a team of virologists at the Pasteur Institute © Institut Pasteur
After earning her PhD in 1974, and spending some time in the US at the National Institutes of Health, Barré-Sinoussi returned to Chermann’s lab. Her unit, run by Luc Montagnier, was studying the link between retroviruses and cancers. That’s where she was working in 1982 when a virologist from a Paris hospital came asking for help. There was an alarming new epidemic that seemed to target homosexual men. Could a retrovirus be the cause?
In just two weeks, at age 35, Barré-Sinoussi and her team isolated what would later be named the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. That discovery, in 1983, led to blood tests to detect the infection and finally to antiretroviral drugs that began to keep AIDS patients alive.
The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith
Photo from Françoise Barre-Sinoussi's lab notebook. © Institut Pasteur
The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith
Photo from Françoise Barre-Sinoussi's lab notebook. © Institut Pasteur
We are not making science for science. We are making science for the benefit of humanity.
FRANÇOISE BARRÉ-SINOUSSI
Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Jean-Claude Chermann, the French scientists who helped discover the causes of AIDS, in their laboratory of Pasteur Institute in Paris, 1984 Michel Clement / AFP / Getty Images
“Never before has science and medicine been so quick to discover, identify the origin and provide treatment for a new disease entity,” said the press release announcing that Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier had been awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
But the discovery wasn’t quick enough for many. As soon as the results were published in Science in May 1983, dying patients began seeking out Barré-Sinoussi at the institute and on her travels, begging for a cure.
Francoise Barré-Sinoussi in 1987 © Institut Pasteur
It was really traumatic. I knew as a scientist that we will not have a treatment tomorrow because we know that science needs time to develop drugs. To see the patients dying and expecting so much from us, it was terrible.
FRANÇOISE BARRÉ-SINOUSSI
Detection of HIV infection course at Institut Pasteur in Bangui, Central African Republic, 1987 © Institut Pasteur
As difficult as it was, Barré-Sinoussi never removed herself from the AIDS community. She became an outspoken advocate for both AIDS research and public health measures. She travelled to Africa with colleagues in the mid-1980s, and, astonished by the magnitude of the epidemic, she committed to fighting the disease in resource-limited countries. In 1986, at age 38, she helped organise the International AIDS Conference in Paris, and two years later, she and her colleagues formed the International AIDS Society.
She travelled throughout Africa and South-East Asia, advocating for better public education about AIDS prevention, and establishing centres that could identify and treat AIDS cases.
A visit to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam, 1988 © Institut Pasteur
Vietnamese puppets donated by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi to the Nobel Prize Museum. Barré-Sinoussi received these as a gift when visiting Vietnam to develop an official partnership with health authorities © Nobel Prize Museum, Photo: Karl Anderson
A visit to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam, 1988 © Institut Pasteur
Vietnamese puppets donated by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi to the Nobel Prize Museum. Barré-Sinoussi received these as a gift when visiting Vietnam to develop an official partnership with health authorities © Nobel Prize Museum, Photo: Karl Anderson
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was president of the International AIDS Society from 2012 to 2014 International AIDS Society and Marcus Rose
Barré-Sinoussi’s activism did not stop her scientific work. In 1988, she started research programs on viral and host determinants of HIV/AIDS pathogenesis, at her own laboratory at the Pasteur Institute. She currently directs the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Pasteur Institute, which is still looking for a vaccine or a functional cure.
Being on the front lines of the AIDS devastation was, she admitted, “very tough psychologically.” The pressure was so intense that, once antiretroviral therapy was discovered in 1996, Barré-Sinoussi fell into a depression, and pulled back from her public commitments. But she soon returned to the fight.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi in her office at the Pasteur Institute © Institut Pasteur
Like everybody, I have some times in my life when I’m pessimistic. I wonder whether I should continue… Then I go and have a trip to Africa or Southeast Asia and have a small meeting with people affected by HIV, and I forget my mood. I say, “OK, let’s go on. Let’s continue. This is real life. Don’t think about yourself.
FRANÇOISE BARRÉ-SINOUSSI
