Christine Petit receives the Louisa Gross Horwitz Award (2020)

Columbia University's Irwing Medical Center has announced the award of the prestigious Horwitz Prize to researchers Robert Fettiplace, James Hudspeth and Christine Petit, Chair of Genetics and Cell Physiology at the Collège de France. All three had already received the Kavli Prize in 2018.

The Horwitz Prize is awarded "for their work revealing how the ear and brain interact to process sound". This research has led to a better understanding of how the ear converts sound waves into electrical impulses that the brain interprets as language, music or noise. Deafness affects 466 million people worldwide. The pioneering work of the three prizewinners has paved the way for better prevention and therapeutic possibilities.

As Columbia University points out in the award announcement, Christine Petit has identified several groups of genes that play a key role in hearing, helping to bridge the gap between basic science and medicine. Working with families affected by hereditary hearing loss, she has discovered more than 20 genes that cause deafness when altered. Christine Petit's research into the function of these genes has provided valuable insights into how hearing loss occurs at the molecular level. Her work points the way to the development of innovative therapies.

At the invitation of Columbia University Irwing Medical Center, Professor Christine Petit will give a lecture on January 28, 2021 (10 a.m. EAST, i.e. 3 p.m., GMT+1):

" Tracing the Road from the Genetic Dissection of Auditory Molecular Mechanisms to Hearing Restoration "

This conference will be held virtually. Free access (registration required on the Columbia University website).

Christine Petit has held the Chair of Genetics and Cellular Physiology at the Collège de France since 2002. She will give her closing lecture on Thursday November 19, 2020 at 6 p.m. (free admission subject to availability and health constraints).

Two other professors at the Collège de France have been awarded the Horwitz Prize: Pierre Chambon (1999), who held the Chair of Molecular Genetics (1993-2003), and Nicole Le Douarin (1993), who held the Chair of Cellular and Molecular Embryology (1988-2000).