CIIL - NEWSLETTER , november 2026 - N° 20

I am a research engineer at the Institut Pasteur of Lille, working in the “Bacteria, Antibiotics and Immunity” (BAI) team led by Dr. Jean-Claude Sirard. My scientific career began at the University of Angers, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in cellular and molecular biology and physiology. I then enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Tours and completed my second-year master’s internship in 2014 at the Institut Pasteur of Lille in the Pulmonary Infection and Innate Immunity team (LI3). My internship focused on CD4+ T-cell immune response following intranasal immunization with flagellin, under the supervision of Dr. Jean-Claude Sirard. I was subsequently hired as a research engineer to continue working on various projects, such as the synergy between TLR signaling and antibiotics in the treatment of pneumococcal respiratory infections. After this highly rewarding professional experience, I left Lille to return to the Nantes region, where I am from. However, just a few days later, I received a job offer from the LI3 team, this time under the supervision of Dr. François Trottein. So, just one month after leaving, I was back in Lille! I then worked on immunology focused projects, particularly in the context of pulmonary infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium that colonizes the respiratory tract and causes invasive diseases in at-risk individuals, especially following an influenza infection. I focused specifically on the role of natural killer T cells in the establishment of protective responses against Streptococcus pneumoniae infection, as well as the role of neutrophils in the development of the innate immune response induced by α-galactosylceramide.

In 2020, I joined Dr. Jean-Claude Sirard’s team "Bacteria, Antibiotics, and Immunity". The team focuses on immune effectors that contribute to the therapeutic activity of antibiotics, with the aim of developing innovative approaches to combat infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria. I am currently involved in the European project NOSEVAC, which seeks to identify new factors involved in the nasal colonization and virulence of S. pneumoniae. These factors are promising antigens for the development of nasally administered vaccines designed to induce a protective local immune response. As part of this project, I am responsible for producing and purifying antigens to test them in mouse models, in vaccine formulations designed to prevent these infections.

In my role as an engineer, I also oversee laboratory organization, which includes ordering reagents, consumables, and laboratory animals.

What I particularly enjoy about my work is the opportunity to collaborate and exchange ideas with a wide range of people, students, postdocs, and researchers, it is a very rewarding experience.