The 2004 Prize has been awarded to Marina Cavazzana-Calvo and Philippe Charneau for contributions in the field of Applied Research in ‘Gene and/or Cellular Therapy’. Pierre Charneau Institut Pasteur, Paris, France One of the essential contributions of Pierre Charneau in the field of gene therapy focuses on improving the efficiency and safety of a new gene transfer vector family derived from lentiviruses. His work has allowed the demonstration of the mechanism utilized by HIV (a lentivirus) for transferring it’s genome in the cell nucleus. This mechanism uses a triple-stranded DNA structure called a DNA flap, which now constitutes an essential element of lentiviral vectors, allowing the efficient transfer of genes. Pierre Charneau’s work finds an application in numerous areas of gene therapy. His laboratory currently is developing approaches for therapeutic vaccination against HIV infection as well as certain cancers. |