Director of the immunology research laboratory at the University of California, Irvine, the American researcher of Moroccan origin is working on the development of a universal vaccine, effective against all forms of Covid. Exclusive interview.
CNN, ABC News, Fox… For the past two months, Professor Lbachir BenMohamed has been omnipresent in the American media and his name keeps coming up in all discussions about the coronavirus. The reason for this media buzz? The enormous hope raised by the universal vaccine he is developing with his teams at the University of California, Irvine, which would protect against all known coronaviruses as well as possible new variants.
Yet nothing destined this native of Tagante, an Amazigh village located 18 kilometers from Guelmim, Morocco, to become a global star of immunology, heading one of the most important research laboratories in North America.
Born in 1968 into a working-class family – his father, Lahcen, was a shepherd, then, for about ten years, a miner in the north of France before opening a small grocery store in Guelmim – Lbachir first wanted to become a doctor, like Moroccan-American researcher Moncef Slaoui.
Ode to perseverance
But after failing the entrance exam to the Casablanca medical faculty in 1984, he studied biology at Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree. He then joined the Pasteur Institute in Paris as an intern. Through hard work, he eventually defended a doctoral thesis in immunology there, focused on a malaria vaccine.
A brilliant researcher and relentless worker, he complemented his thesis with a postdoctoral fellowship in the United States. At the University of California, where he teaches, he climbed every rung of the ladder—first assistant professor, then associate professor, and finally professor and director of the cellular and molecular immunology laboratory. His story is a remarkable success story and an ode to perseverance.
Today, heading a team of nine researchers, he is working on the development of this universal vaccine, for which the United States has invested $4 million, as well as on a revolutionary vaccine patch device. All the while not forgetting his roots, as he aims to create, in Morocco, the first institute of immunology in Africa.
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Un chercheur marocain promet un vaccin universel contre le coronavirus
