Dominique Joly received the “Médaille du Mérite” from Stéphanie Thiébault head of INEE, CNRS the 27 of February at Paris, campus CNRS Michel-Ange.

Paul-André Calatayud (DEEIT) was awarded a price of partnership with ICIPE (Nairobi) through IRD. ICIPE distinguished his expertise in host-plant-natural enemy interactions.

Dominique Joly (PACS) and Sylvie Salamitou (Communication) with Denis Faure (I2BC) managed the writing of a collective book named “101 secrets de l’ADN” published by CNRS Editions. The book is composed of 101 short chapters telling about actual researches using high throughput sequencing.

Laure Kaiser-Arnauld (DEEIT) and her team were interviewed by a journalist from Le monde.fr, Asia Balluffier. The topic was the ability of Cotesia to parasit and finally kill the Sesamia caterpillars, a corn pest.

A video displaying examples of biocontrol was shot in which sequences showing Cotesia parasiting Sesamia are included . This video is on free access on the Monde.fr web site: https://www.lemonde.fr/videos/article/2019/11/11/plan-b-comment-des-insectes-peuvent-sauver-des-millions-de-vies-humaines_6018790_1669088.html or on the Facebook page of the newspaper: https://www.facebook.com/lemonde.fr/videos/558264208282129/ .

Innate Immunity tells us about the history of the discovery of innate immunity in insects. It is published by ISTE Editions. Here is the abstract:

Innate immunity is a new branch of immunology, confirmed by three Nobel Prize winners in 2011. It is the first line of defense against pathogens and is in a way the preliminary step of adaptive immunity which occurs later, and only present in vertebrates.

This book examines the way in which innate immunity was discovered in invertebrates. As a starting point, it looks at the work of Louis Pasteur on silkworm disease and the findings of Ilya Metchnikov, discoverer of phagocytosis. It also investigates André Paillot, who in 1920 demonstrated the existence of humoral immunity in insects, unrelated to the type of immunity that was initially thought to present in all vertebrates. Finally, Innate Immunity shows how the group directed by Jules Hoffmann found strong similarities between the innate immunity response of insects and mammals. The discovery of a receptor protein in Drosophila, which is also found in humans, was what led to Jules Hoffmann being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2011.