At the heart of the Pasteur Institute in Lille, Benoît Deprez, director of the Drug Discovery Center, and his teams are designing molecules that will become the medicines of tomorrow. This meticulous work, made possible by chemistry, was recognized on October 15th with the Léon Velluz Prize awarded by the French Academy of Sciences.
Pharmacist by training, Benoît Deprez observes living organisms through a molecular lens. “At the origin of the new active ingredients we design are atoms whose assembly into molecules gives rise to an explosion of diversity. It is this same explosion of diversity that is at the origin of life. Thanks to chemistry, starting from molecules the size of a drug active ingredient, we can theoretically create a diversity greater than the estimated number of hydrogen atoms in the universe (10 followed by 60 zeros!). Our work, therefore, is to use knowledge of the structures and mechanisms at work in cells to choose, within this diversity that defies the imagination, the molecules to synthesize and test in order to create tomorrow's drugs and vaccines,” explains Benoît Deprez.
The researcher was also honored this week by the 300 elected members of theAcademy of Sciences through the Léon Velluz prizeawarded for his entire career and work. For Benoît Deprez and all the scientists at Pasteur Lille, this distinction bestowed by the scientific community is proof that the excellence of chemistry in understanding living organisms is more relevant than ever. “We are delighted with this prize, which restores the prestige of chemistry in the service of progress in health,” emphasizes Benoît Deprez. This prize is yet another testament to the excellence of scientific research in the Hauts-de-France region, particularly at the heart of the...Pasteur Institute of Lille.
