Yasmine Belkaid

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Yasmine Belkaid
Belkaid in 2017
Born1968 (age 55–56)
Algiers, Algeria
NationalityAlgerian
Alma materUniversity of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene
University of Paris-Sud
Pasteur Institute
Known forMicrobiome
AwardsSanofi-Pasteur Award
Scientific career
FieldsImmunology, Microbiology
InstitutionsNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
University of Pennsylvania

Yasmine Belkaid (Arabic: ياسمين بلقايد; born 1968) is an immunologist, currently President of the Institut Pasteur. She has Algerian citizenship by her father and French citizenship by her mother, and she also holds US citizenship.

She is best known for her work studying host-microbe interactions in tissues and immune regulation to microbes. Belkaid currently serves as the director of the NIAID Microbiome program.[1] On 29 March 2023, she was appointed as President of the Pasteur Institute for a six-year term, starting from January 2024.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Belkaid was born and raised in Algiers, Algeria. Her father was Algerian politician Aboubakr Belkaid, who was assassinated on September 28, 1995, during the Black Decade.[3] She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in biochemistry from the University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene[a] as well as a Master of Advanced Studies from University of Paris-Sud. She earned her doctorate in immunology from the Pasteur Institute in 1996, where she studied innate immune responses to Leishmania infection.

Career[edit]

Academia[edit]

Following graduate school, she moved to the United States for a postdoctoral fellowship at NIAID's Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases. In 2002, she joined the faculty of the Division of Molecular Immunology in Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center before returning to NIAID in 2005 as Head of the Mucosal Immunology Unit in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases. In 2008, she became adjunct Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.[4]

Research[edit]

Belkaid's research focuses on untangling the mechanisms underlying host-microbe interactions in the gastrointestinal tract and on the skin, which are natural barrier sites between the host's inner workings and their external environment.[5] This also includes the role microbiota play in promoting immunity against infection against other harmful pathogens.[6][5] Her group has contributed to the scientific understanding of how the host immune system can distinguish good microbes from the bad.[7][8]

Belkaid's research also led to the discovery of certain skin microbes that play an important role in immune defense.[8] They carried out this experiment using mice that had no naturally-occurring microbes in their skin or gut so they could colonize those mice with only one strain of "good" bacteria. They then infected the colonized and bacteria-free mice with a parasite and found that those without the "good" bacteria were unable to fight back against the parasite, while those with the bacteria mounted an effective immune response.[8] Her team has also found that beneficial bacteria living on the surface of the skin can also accelerate wound healing in mice.[9] Belkaid's group also studies what happens when there are imbalances in our microbiome. Belkaid's research has advanced scientific understanding of how shifts in microbiota can contribute to disease, particularly chronic inflammatory diseases like Crohn's disease and Psoriasis.[10][11][12][13][14]

Awards and honors[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ During her studies, Belkaid worked at the Pasteur Institute of Algeria, where she was responsible for improving diagnostic methods for leishmaniasis.

References[edit]

  1. ^ hermes (2018-09-04). "Keep your gut healthy – and your skin may follow". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  2. ^ "Professor Yasmine Belkaid appointed Institut Pasteur President". Institut Pasteur. 31 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Cinquième édition des prix SANOFI: Yasmine Belkaïd primée pour sa recherche sur l'immunologie" (in French). algerie360.com. 25 December 2016.
  4. ^ "UPENN Biomedical Graduate Studies | Yasmine Belkaid". www.med.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  5. ^ a b "The Microbiome: When Good Bugs Go Bad". NIH Intramural Research Program. 2014-05-20. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  6. ^ Belkaid, Yasmine; Hand, Timothy W. (March 2014). "Role of the Microbiota in Immunity and Inflammation". Cell. 157 (1): 121–141. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.011. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 4056765. PMID 24679531.
  7. ^ Grainger, John R.; Wohlfert, Elizabeth A.; Fuss, Ivan J.; Bouladoux, Nicolas; Askenase, Michael H.; Legrand, Fanny; Koo, Lily Y.; Brenchley, Jason M.; Fraser, Iain D.C. (June 2013). "Inflammatory monocytes regulate pathologic responses to commensals during acute gastrointestinal infection". Nature Medicine. 19 (6): 713–721. doi:10.1038/nm.3189. ISSN 1078-8956. PMC 3755478. PMID 23708291.
  8. ^ a b c Naik, Shruti; Bouladoux, Nicolas; Wilhelm, Christoph; Molloy, Michael J.; Salcedo, Rosalba; Kastenmuller, Wolfgang; Deming, Clayton; Quinones, Mariam; Koo, Lily (2012-08-31). "Compartmentalized control of skin immunity by resident commensals". Science. 337 (6098): 1115–1119. Bibcode:2012Sci...337.1115N. doi:10.1126/science.1225152. ISSN 1095-9203. PMC 3513834. PMID 22837383.
  9. ^ Linehan, Jonathan L.; Harrison, Oliver J.; Han, Seong-Ji; Byrd, Allyson L.; Vujkovic-Cvijin, Ivan; Villarino, Alejandro V.; Sen, Shurjo K.; Shaik, Jahangheer; Smelkinson, Margery (February 2018). "Non-classical Immunity Controls Microbiota Impact on Skin Immunity and Tissue Repair". Cell. 172 (4): 784–796.e18. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.033. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 6034182. PMID 29358051.
  10. ^ Hand, Timothy W.; Vujkovic-Cvijin, Ivan; Ridaura, Vanessa K.; Belkaid, Yasmine (December 2016). "Linking the Microbiota, Chronic Disease, and the Immune System". Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism. 27 (12): 831–843. doi:10.1016/j.tem.2016.08.003. ISSN 1879-3061. PMC 5116263. PMID 27623245.
  11. ^ Man, Si Ming; Kaakoush, Nadeem O.; Mitchell, Hazel M. (March 2011). "The role of bacteria and pattern-recognition receptors in Crohn's disease". Nature Reviews. Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 8 (3): 152–168. doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2011.3. ISSN 1759-5053. PMID 21304476. S2CID 14009791.
  12. ^ Fonseca, Denise Morais da; Hand, Timothy W.; Han, Seong-Ji; Gerner, Michael Y.; Glatman Zaretsky, Arielle; Byrd, Allyson L.; Harrison, Oliver J.; Ortiz, Alexandra M.; Quinones, Mariam (2015-10-08). "Microbiota-Dependent Sequelae of Acute Infection Compromise Tissue-Specific Immunity". Cell. 163 (2): 354–366. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.030. ISSN 1097-4172. PMC 4826740. PMID 26451485.
  13. ^ Belkaid, Yasmine; Hand, Timothy W (2014-03-27). "Role of the Microbiota in Immunity and Inflammation". Cell. 157 (1): 121–141. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.011. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 4056765. PMID 24679531.
  14. ^ "2019 FNIH Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences Winner Uncovered the Microbiome's Critical Role in Immune Regulation". BioSpace. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  15. ^ "The Award Winners 2016". Institut Pasteur (in French). 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  16. ^ "Yasmine Belkaid". Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  17. ^ "Yasmine Belkaid erhält den Emil von Behring-Preis 2017 – Philipps-Universität Marburg – Pressemitteilung". www.lifepr.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  18. ^ "Yasmine Belkaid". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  19. ^ "About the NAM". National Academy of Medicine. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  20. ^ "2019 FNIH Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences Winner Uncovered the Microbiome's Critical Role in Immune Regulation". www.fnih.org. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
  21. ^ "Yasmine Belkaid". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  22. ^ Robert-Koch-Preis 2021
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