Eric Vivier
Eric Vivier is a professor of immunology at Aix-Marseille and hospital practitioner at "Marseille Public" University "Hospital". He is also Chief Scientific Officer at Innate Pharma and coordinator of the Marseille Immunopôle cluster. Biography. Vivier was born in Clamart, France. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort and received his doctoral degree in immunology from Paris XI University. He began his postdoctoral training as a Fogarty International Center Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School with Paul J. Anderson and Stuart F. Schlossman (the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute). He joined Aix-Marseille University as a  professor at the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML) in 1993, becoming its director in 2008 until 2017. In 1999, Vivier is also one of four immunologists whose research led to the creation of the biotech company Innate-Pharma in 1999. In 2014, he was one of the founders of the Marseille-Immunopole, an immunology cluster linking fundamental research, therapeutic innovation, and industrial development in the Aix-Marseille region. Scientific insights. Vivier has made contributions to the understanding of the molecular basis of the ontogeny, function, and therapeutic manipulation of natural killer (NK) cells, and the identification of innate lymphoid  cells (ILCs) in mice and humans. His research has had a profound influence on the field of innate immunology. His early work determined the mode of action of the inhibitory MHC class I receptors expressed on NK cells and extended the concept of ITIM-bearing molecules to multiple cell types and multiple biologic functions. In parallel, his group identified the ITAM-bearing polypeptide, KARAP/DAP12/Tyrobp. These studies on NK cells led to the involvement of the Vivier laboratory in the discovery of ILCs through the detection and characterization of the ILC3 cell subset in human and mouse intestine. Vivier  has published more than 300 scientific articles and is on the editorial boards of leading peer-reviewed journals. He serves on the expert panel of the European Research Council and on the committees of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In 2007, Vivier became a senior fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France, and, in 2013, he was elected to the French National Academy of Medicine.  Awards & Honours. In 2016, he was awarded honorary citizen of the city of Cassis, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and Ambassadeur de la ville de Marseille.