Ethel Moustacchi

Last updated
Ethel Moustacchi
Ethel Moustacchi.png
2011
Born(1933-08-21)21 August 1933
Cairo
Died13 December 2016(2016-12-13) (aged 83)
Paris
Known forResearcher in molecular biology and radiobiology, Research director at French National Centre for Scientific Research

Ethel Moustacchi (21 August 1933 - 13 December 2016) [1] was an Egyptian-born French geneticist, a researcher in molecular biology and radiobiology, and the research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). [2] She is proposed to be one of the people named on the side of the Eiffel Tower.

Contents

Early life and education

Esther Ethel Moustacchi was born in Cairo, Egypt on 21 August 1933 to French-speaking Greek parents Flora (née Revi) and Felix P. Moustacchi. [3] [4] She attended the Mission laïque française in Cairo and moved to France in September 1951 for her higher education, initially studying in Montpellier and then at the faculté des sciences de Paris where she studied chemistry and biology. [1]

Moustacchi then enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, and in 1954 joined the Institut du Radium, later the Curie Institute in Paris, where she would spend most of her career. [1] She initially studied under geneticist Boris Ephrussi. Recruited by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 1959, she began a thesis on ‘the factors of radioresistance in yeast’ under the supervision of Raymond Latarjet  [ fr ], which she defended in 1964. [1]

Post doctorate career

Moustacchi left France to pursue postdoctoral studies in the United States and collaborated with Donald Williamson in Herschel L. Roman's laboratory at Washington State University in Seattle. [2]

In 1966, she returned to France and took over as head of the radio-biology laboratory at the faculté des sciences d'Orsay, a satellite branch of l'Institut du radium, and focused her research towards study of DNA damage. [2]

In 1985, she returned to the Curie Institute's Paris site, taking over Raymond Latarjet's laboratory and focusing on the mechanisms of mutagenesis and DNA repair through a pathophysiology approach to chemotherapy and radiotherapy induced cancers. She also worked for over a decade on Fanconi's anemia, a rare genetic disease affecting the bone marrow. [1]

Moustacchi headed the joint CNRS/Curie Institute UMR218 unit until her retirement in 1998. [2]

In 1995, she became scientific advise for biology at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. [1]

Moustacchi was the author of over 200 publications by the end of her career. [5]

Moustacchi died in the 14th arrondissement of Paris on 13 December 2016. [6]

Awards and commemoration

Moustacchi was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1999 and promoted to Officier in 2013. [1] [7]

In 2011, Ethel Moustacchi received the Prix d'honneur de l'Inserm for her life's work. [8] [9] She was also the recipient of the Pierre and Marie Curie Medal from the International Society for Radiobiology in French. [1]

In 2026, Moustacchi was announced as one of 72 historical women in STEM whose names have been proposed to be added to the 72 men already celebrated on the Eiffel Tower. The plan was announced by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo following the recommendations of a committee led by Isabelle Vauglin of Femmes et Sciences and Jean-François Martins, representing the operating company which runs the Eiffel Tower. [10] [11] [12] [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mathilde Regnault, Disparition d'Ethel Moustacchi archive, Institut Curie press release, 16 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Prix d'Honneur Inserm 2011 ETHEL MOUSTACCHI". archive.wikiwix.com. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  3. ↑ Who's who in science and engineering : 2002-2003, millennium edition. Internet Archive. New Providence, NJ : Marquis Who's Who. 2001. ISBN   978-0-8379-5760-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. 1 2 72 femmes de sciences pour la tour Eiffel Femmes & Sciences (in French). Retrieved 2026-02-13
  5. ↑ "Researchgate Ethel Moustacchi". researchgate.net.
  6. ↑ "matchID - Moteur de recherche des décès". deces.matchid.io. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  7. ↑ "Décret du 31 décembre 1999 portant promotion et nomination - Légifrance". www.legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2025-03-15. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  8. ↑ LaChaine CASDEN (2013-10-10). Ethel Moustacchi, Prix d'Honneur Inserm 2011 . Retrieved 2026-02-13– via YouTube.
  9. ↑ "Les Prix Inserm · Inserm, La science pour la santé". Inserm (in French). Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  10. ↑ "Eiffel Tower: a list of 72 women scientists will soon be inscribed on the Parisian monument". www.sortiraparis.com. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  11. ↑ "Eiffel Tower to honor 72 women scientists for posterity". 2026-01-26. Retrieved 2026-02-14.
  12. ↑ "Les noms des 72 femmes pour la Tour Eiffel ont été révélés". Femmes & Sciences (in French). Retrieved 2026-02-14.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.