PF-UK Impact Grant 2026

Tell us a bit about your experience before joining the Institut Pasteur and why you decided to come here for your next step?

CC: I originally trained as a veterinarian at the University of Bologna in Italy, where I became deeply interested in infectious diseases and public health. After my studies, I worked at Italy’s national veterinary public health institute, where I gained hands-on experience in microbiology and research. That was the moment I realised I wanted to pursue a career in research.  I then moved to the UK to complete a PhD at the University of Glasgow, focusing on genomics of bacterial host adaptation. After finishing my PhD in 2021, I was keen to take on more responsibility and gain experience in managing large, international research projects.  The opportunity as project manager at the Institut Pasteur felt like a natural next step. I had long been aware of Pasteur’s global reputation and scientific excellence, particularly in infectious disease research. What attracted me most was the chance to work at the intersection of cutting-edge research and real-world public health impact, in an environment that is highly collaborative and internationally connected.

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What is the focus of your research at the Institut Pasteur?

My research focuses on diphtheria, a disease that many people assume belongs to the past. Thanks to vaccination, diphtheria is now rare in Europe, but globally it remains a serious and sometimes deadly threat, particularly in regions affected by conflict, displacement, or low vaccination coverage. In recent years, outbreaks have occurred in parts of West Africa, where access to effective treatment remains a major challenge, and in Europe, linked to vulnerable populations such as migrants.  One reason diphtheria has been overlooked scientifically is precisely because vaccines have been so successful. As a result, there is still much we don’t understand about the bacteria that cause the disease, including why some strains are more dangerous than others, how resistance to antibiotics emerges, and how the bacteria adapt to infect different parts of the body.  My work uses bacterial genomics to answer these questions. By analysing the genetic makeup of diphtheria-causing bacteria, we can better understand their virulence, their mechanisms of resistance to antibiotics, and how they spread and evolve. Ultimately, this knowledge helps improve diagnosis, treatment, and outbreak response, especially in settings where resources are limited.

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How does this research translate into your collaboration with the University of Oxford, and how does working with the Oxford team benefit your work?

The collaboration with Oxford, particularly with Dr Keith Jolley and Professor Martin Maiden, builds on a long-standing partnership between Pasteur and Oxford in bacterial genomics. Oxford leads the development of the BIGSdb platform, a global open-access database that allows scientists and public health professionals worldwide to analyse and compare bacterial genomes using a shared, standardised framework.  At Pasteur, we contribute deep expertise in diphtheria microbiology and genomics for public health purposes. Oxford brings world-leading experience in population genomics and in developing tools that make complex genomic analysis accessible to non-specialists.

 

Together, we ensure that scientific advances don’t remain confined to specialist laboratories but can be used by clinicians and public health teams around the world.  A key aim of our collaboration is to make genomic tools easy to use, and freely accessible, leading to globally standardised data on strain types, so that researchers in very different settings are effectively “speaking the same language” when responding to outbreaks.

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What impact will the PF-UK Impact Grant have on your collaboration with Oxford and your wider research goals?

The PF-UK Impact Grant will  provide dedicated support to integrate a diphtheria-specific genomic analysis tool, developed at Pasteur, directly into the Oxford-led BIGSdb platform. This will allow users anywhere in the world to analyse diphtheria genomes through a simple online interface, without needing advanced bioinformatics expertise or expensive infrastructure.

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This is particularly important for low- and middle-income countries, where diphtheria outbreaks are most severe but technical resources are often limited. By lowering these barriers, the grant directly strengthens global surveillance, outbreak detection, and antimicrobial resistance monitoring.

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For me personally, this grant represents a crucial step towards scientific independence. For many early-career researchers, securing a first independent research grant is one of the biggest hurdles. This support not only enables this specific project but also provides the foundation to attract further funding and expand research in an area that is under-recognised yet vitally important for global health.

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Above all, the grant ensures that global genomic knowledge on diphtheria agents is harmonized, summarized and shared openly, equitably, and at scale, which is exactly what is needed to tackle infectious diseases that do not respect borders.

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