Supervisors

What will be a pack without their alphas to lead them? This year, the students are helped in their difficult task by eleven main advisors. They are working at the LISBP (Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés) and the LBME (Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire des Eucaryotes) which are laboratories of Toulouse, and at the IGB (Institut Gaston Berger) which is located in Lyon.

Brice Enjalbert

• Researcher in biosystems and process engineering

His research aims to unravel how microorganisms adapt to fluctuations in their environment. He explored the physiology and mechanisms of adaptation of Gram positive and negative bacteria as well as pathogenic and commensal yeasts. Being an instructor from the first day of the iGEM Toulouse team is not as easy as it seems, and he likes to relax by pressuring his dear iGEM students. Brice is made of 100% pessimism and even though his remarks are hard to take, his experience in the iGEM competition is very valuable.

Stéphanie Heux

• Researcher in microbial system and synthetic biology

She tries to understand the organization and function of natural and synthetic metabolic networks at the cellular level using metabolomics and fluxomics. She then uses this knowledge to design and optimize new synthetic metabolic pathways. Do not upset Stéphanie as she is now known to have slapped a woman (the details of this funny story will remain between the team however, sorry).

Yves Romeo

• Lecturer in genetics at Université Paul Sabatier

His main interest is to understand how intracellular signalling pathways regulate cell growth and proliferation. If our clonings were such a quick success, it's because Yves is a true cloning master. He used to make easy listening electronic music, but we are still trying to find a way to get our hands on his songs…

Régis Fauré

• CNRS researcher scientist

He works on the design and molecular study of bio-inspired evolved and/or artificial enzymatic catalysts. He was of great help for the chemistry aspect of our project and he introduced us to the fantastic world of unnatural amino acids. But be careful, this world should be entered with caution. If you want to order reactants, you will have to compare the cost to the price of cocaine (as long as the cost is inferior you can order what you want but if it isn’t, be sure to have a good argumentation prepared).

Anthony Henras

• CNRS researcher scientist

His research interests focus on the study of ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes, using mainly yeast and human cell as model organisms. He is an ex-NM2 basketball player and our Mr. Happy, always smiling and congratulating us even when things are not working in the lab (“Your cloning failed? That’s great *big smile*”). He is also a master in the art of winking but his most impressive and appreciated skill among the team is that he uses his wedding ring to open bottles of beer; if that doesn’t make him look cool to you, we don’t know what does.

Cédric Montanier

• INRA researcher scientist

Cedric works on the relationship between synergism and modularity in enzymes involved in deconstruction of polysaccharides from plant cell wall. He is especially interested in understanding how spatial proximity and modularity within enzymes impacts hydrolysis of such complex polysaccharides. He is our mentor in the protein production and we were lucky to have him with us. His Swiss army knife is always of good use inside and out of the lab.

Pierre Millard

• INRA researcher scientist

He uses experimental and computational tools to understand the organisation, functioning and regulation of natural and synthetic metabolic systems at the cellular level. He uses his knowledge to understand the role of metabolism in the adaptation of Escherichia coli to its environment, and to design robust and efficient strains as cell factories for innovative and original biotechnological applications. There was not a meeting without him eating a French pastry called chocolate “religieuse” and he is the only one who brings a proper meal every time.

Sophie Barbe

• Researcher in computational biology

Her skills make her our modelling goddess. Her research interests are focused on the study of the structure-dynamics-function relationships of proteins as well as on the development of new computational methods for the exploration of protein functional dynamics and protein design. Thanks to her wonderful 3D-glasses, we were able to see and pet our Cerberus.

Matthieu Guionnet

• CNRS researcher scientist

Matthieu is our master in the dark arts of informatics. He spends most of his time helping the platforms GeT-Biopuces and Métatoul-Réseaux of the LISBP in their IT development. And when he is not working on this, he is creating a fake hidden Wiki so we can experiment on it without anyone seeing us fail.

Marie-Pierre Escudié

• Research engineer at Institut Gaston Berger (INSA Lyon)

She has a PhD in political science and she is now studying how politics, and ethics of engineers shape science and technology. She is also an interdisciplinary teacher in the field of science and technology studies, which makes her our lighthouse in the sea of Human practices.

Camille Wagner

• Organisms, populations and ecosystems biology student at Université Paul Sabatier

Camille might be the most organised of our advisors, she never goes anywhere without her notebooks (yes, she has not one but several notebooks). She is our official photographer and that is thanks to her that our team photos actually look decent. She is our non-biological mom and very dedicated to our project. She was of great help with the design of our logo (if she hadn't been with us, the logo wouldn't have looked like anything at all). Apparently, she has a super nose and can smell a lot of things, even the things she wished she couldn't...