Research

Our team is interested in understanding and analyzing the interactions of pathogens with their host, leading to its infection and possible destruction. Our targets of interest are diverse and include (i) bacteriophages, (ii) type 6 and type 9 secretion systems, and (iii) the host immune response with a particular focus on the role of antibodies.

Understanding host-pathogen interactions is at the heart of the fight against pathogens involved in infectious diseases (viruses, bacteria).

For about ten years, we have been studying the structure and adhesion mechanism of bacteriophages (viruses infecting bacteria) infecting the bacterium used in the milk industry, Lactococcus lactis. We have determined the structures of several phage virions by electron microscopy, and that of the anti-receptors or baseplate (sets of 1-2 Mda), eventually complexed to their receptor, by X-ray diffraction. Still in the field of virology, we have recently launched  a project on the human hepatitis E virus (HEV).

With regard to bacterial infections, we have tackled the study of bacterial secretory systems, in particular those of type 6 (T6SS) and type 9 (T9SS). We have determined the structure and interactions of some of the 13 components of T6SS. We aim to reconstruct the entire system using a “hybrid” approach including electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The same approach is applied to T9SS.

On the host side, we are working on the innate immune response in model organisms such as Drosophila and C. elegans worms. We are also working on key molecules of the immune defense, which are antibodies.