Professor Pascale Cossart, a bacteriologist at the Pasteur Institute of Paris and a Member of the French Academy of Sciences, delivered a lecture in the France–Hong Kong Distinguished Lecture Series on 16 September, which is co-organised by the French Academy of Sciences, the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong (CityU).

In the lecture, “The Bacterium Listeria Monocytogenes: A Unique Model in Infection Biology”, Professor Cossart discussed her study on pathogenic micro bacteria.

Professor Cossart said diseases due to intracellular bacterial pathogens, such as tuberculosis and Legionnaires' disease, remained very important public health problems. They are responsible for 26% of deaths worldwide per year. This is mainly due to their general resistance to antibiotics. Therefore, a full understanding of the infectious process is an absolute prerequisite for the design and generation of new anti-infection drugs.

Professor Cossart also discussed her research into the use of a food-borne pathogen as a model for studying the molecular mechanisms that lie behind the process of bacterial infection with a view to developing more strategic ways of combating diseases.

Professor Lu Jian, Vice-President (Research and Technology), welcomed the guest speaker and Professor Way Kuo, President of CityU, said infection biology is related to food safety which aligned with research areas at CityU’s newly established School of Veterinary Medicine.

Mr Eric Berti, Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, thanked the organisers of the lecture and gave a brief introduction to Professor Cossart.