When Nadine Cerf-Bensusson became interested in the gut in the 1980s, the subject had barely attracted the research world, microbiota was not yet fashionable. Doctors and researchers already agree about the crucial role of this organ, the gut microbiota and its numerous microorganisms, mainly bacteria. “With an estimated surface area of between 35 and 70 square meters, the gut is our main interface with the external environment”she recalls.
At the end of 2023, Nadine Cerf-Bensussan was awarded the Inserm Grand Prize. “I wasn’t expecting that at allShe trusted, When Didier Samuel – the president of INSERM – called me, I thought he was going to ask me to hand over”…she saw it that way “A reward for his field of research and his team. It’s a little bit like guts took a price”He says with a smile. “I had already received the Insurm Research Award in 2014, I thought that was enough…”He adds with great humility.
“Nadine was right from the beginning that the immune system in contact with the intestinal mucosa plays a very important role. Thanks to the many advances, it makes a major contribution to the field.”, describes pediatrician and immunologist Ellen Fisher, president of the Academy of Sciences, who was her boss. He salutes “A great researcher, determined, determined, passionate and in love with his work”.
The spirit of the collective
Director of Inserm Research as head of the Intestinal Immunity Laboratory at the Imagine Institute in Paris, the 68-year-old scientist is still trying to unravel the mysteries of intestinal immunity and intestinal pathology, particularly those associated with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder. Ingestion of gluten. She has also piloted Inserm’s cross-disciplinary microbiota program since 2016, which will be expanded through priority research programs and tools – launched by the government as part of the France 2030 plan, and coordinated by Inrae and ‘Inserm. “I don’t know anyone in the world who has such a wide range of bowels”, comments their team member Fabienne Charbit-Henrien. However, Nadine Cerf-Bensussan has a strong sense of the collective.
It was an opportunity that turned her to this field. She did her first hospital internship at the Department of Immunology and Hematology under Claude Griselli at the Neckar Hospital in Paris, where she worked with young children affected by very severe immune diseases.
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