Françoise Barré-Sinoussi

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi in 2008.
Born	(1947-07-30) 30 July 1947 Paris, France
Nationality	French
Alma mater	University of Paris
Known for	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008
Scientific career
Fields	Virology
Institutions	Pasteur Institute

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, (born July 30, 1947, Paris, France), French virologist who was a corecipient, with Luc Montagnier and Harald zur Hausen, of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. She and Montagnier shared half the prize for their work in identifying the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Barré-Sinoussi earned a Ph.D. (1975) at the Pasteur Institute in Garches, France, and did postdoctoral work in the United States at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1975 she joined the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and in 1996 she became head of the Retrovirus Biology Unit (later called Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit) there. From 2012 to 2014 Barré-Sinoussi was president of the International AIDS Society.

When Montagnier led efforts at the Pasteur Institute in 1982 to determine a cause for AIDS, Barré-Sinoussi was a member of his team. Through dissection of an infected patient’s lymph node, they determined that AIDS was caused by a retrovirus, which came to be known as HIV. Their work led to the development of new antiviral drugs and diagnostic methods.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi married Jean-Claude Barre on October 7, 1978.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is the daughter of Roger and Jeanine (Fau) Sinoussi, she was born on July 30th, 1947, and is from Paris, France.

Ethan H. Smith

Other websites

• Media related to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi at Wikimedia Commons