Research teams

The team is interested in the defense mechanisms of organisms against environmental aggressors and the pathophysiological consequences when these mechanisms fail. With a focus on host-pathogen interactions, we study the physiology of the intestine and the functions of intestinal stem cells in maintaining cellular homeostasis and innate immunity. Our biological models are Drosophila melanogaster and bacteria of the Bacillus cereus group, with a particular interest in Bacillus thuringiensis, which is used as a microbial insecticide in agriculture.

The lab studies the conditions for the installation and the evolution of introduced populations of insects. Our biological models are invasive pests and species used in biological control. Our research on introductions, subsequent demographic and geographic expansions, and the associated evolutive phenomena, is based on ecology and evolutionary biology. We combine behavioural ecology, population genetics and population dynamics.

Our interest focuses on understanding how does the environment interact with the genes to times the Juvenile-to-adult DevelopmentalTransition (JDT) and its associated behaviors. The JDT (Metamorphosis/ puberty) determines the reproductive ability for a given species. Therefore, uncovering the mechanism timing this developmental transition is essential to improve pest management efficiency but also, in the case of human, to battle against adverse health consequences caused by earlier puberty.

The support team provides outreach service to the research teams and technical units of the ISA unit. Made up of 17 people and placed under the responsibility of the administrator.

The GAME team studies mechanisms of genomic plasticity related to: 1 - species evolution towards a parasitic or pathogenic life style and 2 - adaptation of these same species to current environmental changes, including to methods deployed to manage them.Scientists in GAME use bioinformatics, biostatistics and artificial intelligence for their research.

The management of insect pests, from phytophagous and parasites to disease vectors requires a thorough knowledge of the mechanisms by which insects deal with chemical and biological challenges. These challenges to insect fitness can be viewed as a seamless range of aggressions, rather than categories of "pathogens" or "xenobiotics". The overall goal of our team is to exploit genomic resources to study the functional basis of insect defense mechanisms and their evolution.

The overall objective of the team, through various levels of study ranging from the gene to the field, is to acquire the scientific basis for a better understanding of the interaction between the plant and the nematode in order to envisage new specific, sustainable and environmentally friendly control methods. The research developed concerns the two partners in the interaction, i.e. the plant, with the study of the development of the disease (susceptibility) or the establishment of resistance, and the parasite, with the analysis of the pathogenicity and its capacity to evolve.

The team is currently studying mechanisms underlying interactions between plants and microbes in order to contribute to alternative pest control strategies. Our research programs, mainly conducted on plante-oomycete* interactions, aim at identifying molecular processes that orchestrate, on the pathogen side, the onset and the development of infection and the associated evolutive processes. We also aim at deciphering plant responses, leading to the success (sensitivity) or the failure (resistance) of the infection. We combine plant pathology, cell biology, evolutionary and functional genomics, biochemistry and molecular biology.

The Mutitrophic Interaction and Biocontrol (MIB) team generates basic and applied knowledge on the ecology and physiology of insect pests, of their biocontrol agents (BCA) and the effect of their hosted symbionts on the BCA success, as well as the impact of biocontrol methods and of the biotic and abiotic conditions on pest-BCA interactions. To achieve this, the team uses a variety of approaches, from the population scale (field, microcosm) to the implementation of experimental evolution in the laboratory, combined with multiomics, molecular and cell biology, toxicology, behavioural analysis and other approaches. Our aim is to understand the fundamental mechanisms at the different levels of interaction in order to optimize and increase the sustainability of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs. The goal is to develop innovative and sustainable multilevel biocontrol approaches that will serve as the basis for tomorrow's agroecology.

The team aims at making plant protection more respectful of the environment through the development of innovative ecological pest management strategies. For that purpose, the team develops an interdisciplinary research program based on the concerted use of theoretical models and experiments to address specific issues from the individual to populations and agroecosystems.

The main objective of the team "Research and Development in Biological Control" is the field implementation of biological control strategies against noxious phytophagous insects using entomophagous insects (parasitoids or predators).

The team focuses on improving our knowledge of plant/nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobium) by studying the role of the cellular redox state during the symbiotic interaction.

The team SMILE is focused on studying the mechanisms of molecular reprogramming in plants upon interaction with biotic agents by using systems biology models from artificial intelligence to network inference. To address this question, since the plant defense mechanisms activated by biotic stressors involve different molecular responses, in the team we develop multi-omics integration approaches to deepen our understanding of those complex signaling networks.