Françoise Barre-Sinoussi — Questions and answers
Who was the young virologist at the Pasteur Institute who was about to make an important discovery in the early 1980s?
Answer: Françoise Barre-Sinoussi
What was the name of the syndrome before it was called Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)?
Answer: Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID)
What special enzyme do retroviruses use to change their RNA into DNA?
Answer: Reverse transcriptase
What special growth factor did Françoise Barre-Sinoussi's team use to help T-cells divide and grow?
Answer: Interleukin-2 (IL-2)
What "smoking gun" did Barre-Sinoussi's team find that showed a retrovirus was present?
Answer: High levels of reverse transcriptase activity
What important prize did Françoise Barre-Sinoussi receive in 2008 for her work?
Answer: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine