Barré-Sinoussi, Françoise
Barré-Sinoussi, Françoise,
1947–, French virologist, Ph.D. Pasteur Institute, Paris, 1974. She has been a professor at the Pasteur Institute since 1974 and was appointed head of its retroviral unit in 1992. Barré-Sinoussi was a co-recipient, with Harald zur Hausenzur Hausen, Harald,1936–, German virologist, M.D. Univ. of Düsseldorf, 1960. He was a researcher at the Univ. of Würzburg, Germany (1968–72), chairman of the Institute of Clinical Virology, Erlangen-Nürnberg (1972–77), chairman of the Institute
..... Click the link for more information. and Luc MontagnierMontagnier, Luc Antoine,
1932–, French virologist, M.D. Sorbonne, 1960. Montagnier was a researcher at the Medical Research Council at Carshalton, London (1960–63), the Institute of Virology in Glasgow, Scotland (1963–65), and the Curie Institute in Orsay,
..... Click the link for more information. , of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She and Montagnier are credited with discovering (1983) the human immunodeficiency virus (HIVHIV,
human immunodeficiency virus, either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States.
..... Click the link for more information. ), which causes AIDSAIDS
or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome,
fatal disease caused by a rapidly mutating retrovirus that attacks the immune system and leaves the victim vulnerable to infections, malignancies, and neurological disorders. It was first recognized as a disease in 1981.
..... Click the link for more information. . She has continued to conduct HIV research at the Pasteur Institute while also collaborating with resource-limited countries in Asia and Africa, and has played a significant role in linking basic and clinical AIDS research, thereby enabling improvements in the prevention and treatment of the disease.