Events

INCEPTION Turns 10 years : A Day to Celebrate, Share and Inspire Ten years. Ten partner institutions. Ambitious interdisciplinary research projects, addressing innovative and complex scientific questions. Launched in 2017, the INCEPTION programme is about to close an important chapter in its history, and we want to celebrate it together. On 25 November 2026, the Institut Pasteur will host the Final Scientific Symposium of INCEPTION. A day true to the spirit of the progr

Nucleic Acids Research Kevin Debatisse, Manon Brunie, Baptiste Darracq, Elia Bandini, Eloi Littner, Eduardo P C Rocha, Didier Mazel, Céline Loot Summary Integrons act as biobanks of gene cassettes conferring functions crucial for bacterial defense, including protection against phages and antibiotics. They enable bacterial on-demand adaptation through capture and shuffling of the cassettes under stress conditions. Our results underscore the significant role of horizontal gene

Communications medicine Bloch, E., Baudemont, G., Donnadieu, F. et al. Investigation of the sero-epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases and common viral infections in French populations. Background Vaccine-preventable diseases and common viral infections pose substantial public health challenges worldwide. Applying multiplex serological assays to samples collected from cross-sectional studies allows assessment of population-level immunity to a broad range of pathogens.

Communications Biol ogy Boetto, C., Romero, V.B., Henches, L. et al. The influence of environment on bacterial co-abundance in the gut microbiomes of healthy human individuals. Summary The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem characterized not only by its marginal taxonomic composition but also by its emergent properties. Bacteria develop local interactions to form coherent functional communities, whose effects on health and diseases cannot be predicted from the behavior of

Nature Methods Huizing, GJ., Samaran, J., Capocefalo, D. et al. Summary In dynamic biological processes such as development, spatial transcriptomics is revolutionizing the study of the mechanisms underlying spatial organization within tissues. Inferring cell fate trajectories from spatial transcriptomics profiled at several time points has thus emerged as a critical goal, requiring novel computational methods. Wasserstein gradient flow learning is a promising framework for an

With measles resurging in several parts of the world, the Institut Pasteur provides a clear, accessible analysis addressing three key questions: Why is measles coming back? Mainly due to insufficient vaccination coverage, which disrupts herd immunity and allows outbreaks to spread rapidly. Is the measles vaccine still effective? Yes. Two doses of the MMR vaccine (usually administered at 12 months and between 16–18 months) provide long-lasting, highly effective protection. Doe

PLOS Genetics Corneloup T, Bellengier J, Rosinski-Chupin I, Magnan M, Chavan A, et al. (2025) High-throughput conjugation reveals strain specific recombination patterns enabling precise trait mapping in Escherichia coli . Summary Genetic exchange is a cornerstone of evolutionary biology and genomics, driving adaptation and enabling the identification of genetic determinants underlying phenotypic traits. In Escherichia coli, horizontal gene transfer via conjugation and transdu

Two Unexpected Pathogens Identified in Soldiers of Napoleon’s 1812 Retreat: A New Look at a Historical Catastrophe The remarkable paleogenomic investigation by Nicolas Rascovan (INCEPTION G5) team has revealed the presence of two pathogens— Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C and Borrelia recurrentis —in remains of soldiers from Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812. This discovery suggests that infectious diseases may have played a much more significant role in the

The Journal of Infectious Diseases Michael T White, Gaëlle Baudemont, Françoise Donnadieu, Arona Sabene Diatta, Ibrahima Sarr, Aissatou Diagne, Aissatou Toure-Balde, Fatoumata Diene Sarr, Joseph Faye, Cheikh Sokhna, Hubert Bassene, Inès Vigan-Womas, Stéphane Pelleau, Makhtar Niang Summary Background Serological assays are key tools in infectious disease surveillance, enabling detection of past infections by measuring antibody responses. Determining appropriate seropositivity