My research activities are situated in the field of microbial synthetic biology and aim at understanding, designing, and optimizing biological systems across multiple levels of organization, from the genome to microbial communities.

After completing my PhD at the Institut Pasteur, focused on the production and characterization of a Plasmodium falciparum protein, I pursued my research at Harvard Medical School (Boston) on redox systems and protein folding mechanisms involved in the formation and regulation of disulfide bonds. I then developed, at CEA Saclay, cell biology approaches centered on redox systems, in particular the regulatory mechanisms of oxidative stress involving sulfiredoxin, contributing to the understanding of cellular redox repair and adaptation processes. At iSSB (Genopole, Évry), I participated in metabolic engineering projects aimed at designing biosynthetic pathways using a retrosynthetic approach.
In this context, I contributed to the development of specialized microbial chassis for the production of compounds of interest, notably flavonoids with antibacterial activity. I co-supervised studies focusing both on the engineering of Escherichia coli strains optimized for flavonoid biosynthesis and on the characterization of their activity in Bacillus subtilis. These studies enabled the identification of a diversity of active compounds and highlighted the multiplicity of their mechanisms of action, involving perturbations of central metabolism, redox homeostasis, stress response, and bacterial envelope biosynthesis.

Since 2013, within the MICALIS unit at INRAE, my research has focused on engineering of Bacillus subtilis, a model bacterium and a relevant chassis for biotechnology. I have contributed to large-scale genome reduction efforts and to the characterization of minimal-genome strains in order to explore the relationships between genetic content, cellular robustness, and the organization of essential functions. I also led the development of CRISPR-based genetic engineering strategies to achieve multiplex genomic modifications and accelerate the construction of complex strains.

More recently, my work has expanded to the engineering of synthetic microbial consortia. By exploiting the principles of metabolic mutualism and division of labor, I design controlled bacterial communities to investigate the determinants of stability, resilience, and the emergence of collective functions. This approach aims to link the properties of individual genomes to the emergent behaviors of microbial populations and to better understand the organizational principles of natural microbial communities.

Overall, my work follows an integrative approach aiming to use engineering of living systems as a tool to explore the fundamental principles governing the organization and functioning of complex biological systems, from the molecular to the community level.