The VRI includes 150 researchers working on more than 40 international projects.
Philippe Bousso is an immunologist heading the Dynamics of Immune Responses Unit at the Pasteur Institute. With the help of innovative functional imaging approaches, his research aims at understanding and manipulating immune responses in the context of disease pathogenesis.
Over the last years, his lab helped redefine the process of T cell activation in vivo. His work in the field of infectious diseases offered the first demonstration that effector cytokines were acting over extended distances in the infected tissue to effectively control intracellular pathogens. His lab also characterized a novel cellular pathway responsible for graft rejection.
In the context of tumor immunity, his group identified the distinct roles of T cells and NK cells in tumor cell killing and uncovered the mode of action of anti-CD20 therapy, the most common immunotherapy used to treat B cell lymphomas. Finally, his lab has recently characterized the mode of action of the anti-HIV candidate vaccine MVA.