The award is given annually by the National Center for Scientific Research of France to outstanding researchers at national and international levels

Researcher Andréa Dessen, affiliated with the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) and the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) in France, was awarded the 2021 silver medal from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). The annual award recognizes the originality, quality, and relevance of the work of researchers on a national and international levels. The ceremony took place on December 3^rd in Grenoble, France.

Dessen leads research groups both at the CNPEM and the IBS, conducting structural biology studies that aim to unravel molecular mechanisms of bacterial cell wall formation processes that lead to the development of new antibiotics to fight drug-resistant bacteria. The interaction between the research groups in Brazil and France takes place with support from the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). The researcher has been a member of the São Paulo Excellence Chair Program (SPEC) for years, and its objective is to encourage the involvement of high-level researchers based abroad to create and maintain research groups in Brazil.

Andréa Dessen has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). She did her Ph.D. at New York University and post-doctoral fellowships at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York) and Harvard Medical School (Boston). She recently published results obtained from studies developed in France and Brazil in the journal Nature Communications.