Pascal Mayer

Honorary Chair

Pascal Mayer is a biophysicist who studied at the University of Strasbourg. He obtained his PhD at the Charles Sadron Institute (ICS) in Strasbourg, then took up a post-doctoral position at the University of Ottawa (Canada) and, subsequently, the Paul Pascal Research Center (CRPP-CNRS) in Bordeaux (France). His research focus at the time was already on innovative methods and inventions for DNA analysis.

He joined the Glaxo Wellcome Institute of Biomedical Research in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1996 and later co-founded Manteia Predictive Medicine, to develop a new massively parallel DNA sequencing technology. In 2022, he received the Breakthrough Prize for this work. This groundbreaking technology is now used in many scientific fields and forensics, and was a key element in the battle against Covid-19, as it allowed the virus and its mutations to be identified rapidly.

In 2004, Pascal Mayer co-founded the company Haploys to develop DNA sample chips and a novel isothermal DNA amplification method with DNA computer applications. In 2009, he joined BioFilm Control to lead technology development and antimicrobial drug discovery.

Today he leads Alphanosos, co-founded in 2014, which utilises artificial intelligence to discover natural treatments for bacteria, viruses and cancer, based on polypharmacological concepts.

• More information can be found in the short portrait of Pascal Mayer written on the occasion of his appointment as USIAS honorary chair in 2023: An innovative mind in service of today’s challenges.