The International Peace Foundation

Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi is the Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 together with Prof. Luc Montagnier for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Professors Barré-Sinoussi's and Montagnier's discovery made rapid cloning of the HIV-1 genome possible. This has allowed identification of important details in its replication cycle and how the virus interacts with its host. Furthermore, it led to the development of methods to diagnose infected patients and to screen blood products, which has limited the spread of the AIDS pandemic. The unprecedented development of several classes of new antiviral drugs is also a result of knowledge of the details of the viral replication cycle. The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased the spread of the disease and dramatically increased the life expectancy among millions of treated patients worldwide.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi received her Ph.D. in virology from the Pasteur Institute and the University of Sciences in Paris, France, in 1975. After a brief internship at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, she returned to the Pasteur Institute where she now heads her own research group within the Virology Department.

Professor Barré-Sinoussi has been involved in retrovirology research since the early 1970s. She is recognized for her contributions to HIV/AIDS research, in particular as the first author of the publication that reported in 1983 the discovery of a retrovirus, later named HIV. In 1988 she became responsible for her own laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and initiated research programs on viral and host determinants of HIV/AIDS pathogenesis.

Between 1988 and 1998 Professor Barré-Sinoussi has been implicated in collaborative programs on HIV vaccine research, while today the research programs of her team are focused on regulations of HIV/SIV infection (intracellular restrictions of HIV-1 infection and innate immunity, in particular regulations of T-cell activation resulting from the NK-dendritic cell interplay).

Professor Barré-Sinoussi has actively contributed to several scientific societies and committees at the Pasteur Institute as well as to other AIDS organizations, such as the National Agency for AIDS Research in France, several International AIDS Conferences and as a consultant to the WHO and the UNAIDS-HIV. She is President of the Scientific Committee of the National Agency for AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Research (ANRS) and heads the ANRS site in South East Asia.

Professor Barré-Sinoussi has established numerous collaborations with countries deeply affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and has promoted integration between HIV/AIDS research and actions in resource limited countries, in particular through the Pasteur Institute's International Network and the coordination of ANRS research programs in Cambodia and Vietnam. Since the early 1980s she has been committed to capacity building, training and technology transfers on site in Africa and Asia.

Professor Barré-Sinoussi has published more than 220 articles in international scientific journals, has presented more than 250 papers at international conferences and has 17 patents. Her team of around 20 scientists is currently working on how the HIV virus is transmitted from mother to child, on innate mechanisms that control HIV infection and on HIV-related simian viruses that infect monkeys.

Professor Barré-Sinoussi has received numerous national and international awards including the Sovac Prize, the Körber Foundation Prize for the Promotion of European Science, the French Academy of Science Prize, the King Faisal International Prize and the International AIDS Society Prize. She has been Officer in the Order of the Légion d'Honneur since 2006.

In 2009 Professor Barré-Sinoussi wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI in protest over his statements that condoms are at best ineffective in the AIDS crisis.

SCHEDULE

Monday, April 5, 2010:
10:00 Dialogue with high school students at the NIST International School in Bangkok (Thailand) (not a public event)

14:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at Mahidol University in Bangkok (Thailand)
Information and registration:
phone (02) 201-5070 (Ms. Nongnuch), fax (02) 201-5072, online registration www.sc.mahidol.ac.th

Wednesday, April 7, 2010:
14:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at the University of Cambodia in Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
Information and free seat reservation:
phone (023) 993-274, (023) 993-275, (012) 483-508, fax (023) 993-284, email malis.por@uc.edu.kh, info@uc.edu.kh

Thursday, April 8, 2010:
10:00 Dialogue with high school students at the International School of Phnom Penh in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) (not a public event)

Friday, April 9, 2010:
14:00 Public dialogue with researchers at the University of Health Sciences in Phnom Penh in cooperation with the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia (Cambodia)
Information and free seat reservation:
phone (023) 430-559, fax (023) 430-186, email uhsc@univ-sante.edu.kh, ussmedpp@online.com.kh