CIML

Team 2.1 : Innate immunity in C.elegans (J. Ewbank & N. Pujol).
We have genetically and biochemically characterized the signalling pathways activated by a natural fungal infection of C. elegans. These lead to the rapid up-regulation of antimicrobial peptide gene expression in the epidermis. Through the application of dynamic imaging techniques, in collaboration with the He and Marguet team, we now aim to correlate the progression of the infection with activation of these signalling pathways and to changes in host cell biology.

Team 2.2: Immunology and cell biology of pathogen/host cell interactions (J.P. Gorvel).
Gorvel’s team will be fully implicated in characterizing how bacterial infection manipulate signal transduction in dendritic cells leading to immunosuppressive effect.

Team 2.3: Membrane Dynamics and lymphocyte signaling (D. Marguet & Hai-Tao He)
We aim to elucidate the role of lateral and transversal membrane organization (raft nanodomains/actin cytoskeleton) on the early events of the adaptive immune response by molecular biology, cell biology, dynamic cell imaging and biophysics. We focus on the molecular mechanisms of T-cell activation by deciphering the intimate relationships existing between lipid environment and cell membrane receptors such as the T Cell Receptor (TCR).

Team 2.4: Biology of dendritic cell (P. Pierre & E. Gatti)

Our research focus on the biology of cells exposed to microbial challenges and endeavours the functional dissection of novel signaling pathways involved in the acquisition of immunomodulating functions. Among immune cells, dendritic cells (DCs) have the unique capacity to initiate immune responses by stimulating naive T cells and producing various cytokines after encountering pathogens. Our laboratory aims to gain fundamental knowledge of the metabolic and signaling pathways participating to this process by investigating protein synthesis, organelle dynamic, intracellular traffic of innate receptors, autophagy and antigen processing and presentation. We are particularly interested in characterizing the heterogeneity of endosomal compartments, that can serve as distinct platforms for the assembly of signaling complexes, leading alternatively to pro-survival, type-I interferons or and pro-inflammatory responses in stimulated DCs. By using advanced imaging technologies and systems biology approaches, we aim at mapping these fundamental processes and compartments and quantifying their contribution to key immune signalling cascades and learn how they could be potentially modulated for therapeutic purposes.