Christine Petit (born 4 February 1948) is a French

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...

. She holds professorships at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

and the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

Biography

Petit was born in

Laignes Laignes () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Laignes has a total area of 40 km2 and an approximate altitude of 220 m. Near the town hall there is a basin forme ...

in 1948. She initially studied at the Paris teaching hospital,

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital (french: Hôpital universitaire la Pitié-Salpêtrière, ) is a teaching hospital in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Part of the and a teaching hospital of Sorbonne University. History The Salpêtriè ...

and at the Pasteur Institute. She completed two pieces of post-doctoral research at the Centre for Molecular Research in

Gif-sur-Yvette Gif-sur-Yvette (, literally ''Gif on Yvette'') is a commune in south-western Ile de France, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Geography The town is crossed by and named after the river Yvette. The total area is and is green sp ...

and another in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. Petit holds professorships at

and the

. She has a member of the Academy of Science since 14 January 2002. Petit's research has explored the link between genes and

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

, with her research group at INSERM "Génétique et physiologie de l’audition". She is one of the pioneers of auditory genetics. Together with Karen Steel, Petit won the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Brain Prize 2012, for their pioneering work on the genetics of hearing and deafness.

Prizes and honours

*1999 : Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer of the Academy of Sciences *2004 : L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science *2006 :

Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the ''Fondation Louis-Jeantet'' and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one of the member states of t ...

*2007 : Grand Prix of Medical Research INSERM *2012 : Co-recipient with Karen Steel of the Royal Society's Brain Prize *2016 : Foreign associate of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

*Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

*Officer of the National Order of Merit *2018 :

Kavli Prize The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 as a joint venture of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation. It honors, supports, and recognizes scientists for outstand ...

in Neuroscience (shared with James Hudspeth and

Robert Fettiplace Robert Fettiplace FRS is a British neuroscientist, and Steenbock Professor of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Work Fettiplace studied the mechanism of hearing in vertebrates. In 1976, he and Andre ...

) *2020 :

Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemist ...

(shared with James Hudspeth and

). *2021 :

Gruber Prize in Neuroscience The Gruber Prize in Neuroscience, established in 2004, is one of three international awards worth US$500,000 made by the Gruber Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The Gruber Prize in Neurosc ...

(shared with Christopher A. Walsh).

References

1948 births Living people People from Côte-d'Or French geneticists Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the French Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Pasteur Institute L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates 21st-century French women scientists Kavli Prize laureates in Neuroscience 20th-century French women scientists 21st-century French scientists 20th-century French scientists {{France-scientist-stub