Pascal Poignard among the world’s most cited researchers
Each year, the publishing company Thomson Reuters (now Clarivate Analytics) analyzes scientific articles covering 21 disciplinary fields, published over the past 11 years in international journals. This data yields a list of some 3,000 researchers who have distinguished themselves by publishing a large number of articles that rank among the top 1% most cited in their respective fields. One IBS researcher, Pascal Poignard, head of the HIV and Persistent Human Viruses Group and University Professor-Hospital Practitioner (CHUGA & UGA), features on the 2017 list of the world’s 3,300 most cited researchers (in the "Microbiology" category).
The work of Pascal Poignard’s team focuses on the study of broad-spectrum neutralizing antibody (AcLS) responses as they develop in rare HIV-infected individuals. Understanding the virus-antibody coevolution that leads to the selection of AcLS should enable the design of effective immunogens, as well as the development of new vaccination strategies to prevent HIV infection.
FRM team label for the Viral Replication Machines Group of Marc Jamin
The Viral Replication Machines Group of the IBS has just been certified as FRM team. About 30 french teams are certified by the "Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale" (FRM) each year.
The group will receive € 395 000 financial support from the FRM over 3 years.
What is this project about?
Protein-protein interactions are at the heart of all biological processes, including virus replication, and constitute a large and under-exploited set of therapeutic targets.Various types of interface, called "linear pattern", consisting of short sequences of contiguous amino acids are abundantly used by viruses to assemble their replicative complexes and divert molecular machines from their hosts.his project aims to: (1) characterize protein-protein interactions involving an interface of this type within the replicative machine of various viruses or host-virus interactions, (2) demonstrate that peptides mimicking these interfaces block replication of these viruses and (3) optimize these peptides by combinatorial methods of directed evolution in order to increase their affinity or to extend their spectrum of activity.
Nicola Salvi, JMR Award
Nicola Salvi, postdoctoral fellow in the FDP group, won a JMR Award based on the abstract he submitted for the 58th Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference.