photographist

"I was in middle school at the time when the AIDS epidemic began. One of my classmate's fathers was a doctor and had some of the first HIV-infected patients. He came to talk to us about it and I was marked by this peculiar epidemic. At the time, there was a sort of social stigmatisation of patients with the HIV virus. I thought it was unfair. For me, it was just a virus, just an illness which needed a treatment and cure. My interest in HIV continued and when I finished my engineering studies, I reconverted at once to a science thesis in immunology and virology. I did a thesis in pharmacology to develop new therapeutic strategies against the AIDS virus and after 10 years in the private sector I applied to the CEA for a job to set up a laboratory to study the prevention of viral infections, in particular HIV.

A vaccine teaches the immune system to recognise a pathogenic agent and to fight against it. I am currently assessing the efficiency of vaccination strategies against the AIDS virus, but also those of microbicides. These are gels for vaginal or rectal use to provide protection against the infection. As male condoms depend on the man to use them, to limit the infection of women, it is very important to provide them with a means of prevention they can use at their initiative and under their own control. We are testing the efficiency of microbicides in macaques before developing clinical trials on women. When used correctly, microbicides have already shown a 50 to 60% efficiency rate. We are hoping to obtain virus transmission inhibition efficiency rates of 80% and, if possible, 100%. We are also working on viral infections transmitted by mosquitoes – such as dengue fever and Chikungunya."

next