Cosmin Saveanu

Cosmin Saveanu is a Professor at the Pasteur Institute, affiliated with the Genomes and Genetics Department. His research focuses on RNA degradation pathways, particularly Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD), ribosome biogenesis, and genetic interaction mapping in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. He develops large-scale biochemical and genetic approaches to study RNA-protein complexes and their integration with functional genomics data.

• Education:
  • Medical Degree (1996), Cluj, Romania
  • PhD in Biochemistry (2001), Cluj, Romania
  • HDR (2010), Paris Diderot University

His work includes discovering NMD mechanisms in yeast, revealing the role of translated region length in mRNA stability (Cell Rep, 2014), identifying NMD substrates from half of yeast genes (eLife, 2015), and characterizing mutually exclusive NMD complexes (EMBO J, 2018). He pioneered quantitative mass spectrometry for ribosome biogenesis studies (Mol Cell Biol, 2003; Nucl Acids Res, 2008).

Article trends emphasize NMD pathways, RNA-protein interactions, yeast genetics, and mRNA stability. His recent studies challenge textbook views, such as the independence of decapping from deadenylation (EMBO J, 2024) and the targeting of short poly(A) RNAs by NMD (Nucleic Acids Res, 2025).

Scientific Awards:

• Silver medal, 22nd International Chemistry Olympiad (1990)
• Thérèse Lebrasseur Prize (2019)

Grants: Led ANR projects CleaNMD (2014–2018) and DEFineNMD (2019–2023), with support from the French Ministry of Higher Education and the ARC Foundation for Cancer Research.

Labs & Teams: Leads the RNA Degradation and Translation group under the Pôle FUNOMICA at Pasteur Institute, collaborating on projects across RNA biology, genomics, and proteomics.