Author: Auriane Velten

Théo Markezic – PhD Student – Nina Entelis & Ivan Tarassov’s team, MitoCross, and Pascale Romby’s team, NetRNA

Théo Markezic grew up in Belfort (France) before leaving to complete a higher technician diploma in biotechnology in Haute-Saône, which confirmed his passion for molecular biology through a research project at Chrono-environment laboratory.

“Following this, I decided to do my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Strasbourg, renowned for the quality of its research in this field”, he explains.

During his master’s degree in Plant, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, he had work on mitochondrial genome maintenance during the 4 semesters of his master’s via the VegeLab program.

In Septembre 2023, he began his PhD on a new theme: the pervasive and antisense transcription in phylogenetically distant bacteria, E. coli and S. aureus, using experimental evolution approaches. He considers himself “lucky enough” to be carrying out this project in two different Research Clusters (LabEx) in the Tarassov-Smirnov team (MitoCross) at GMGM and the Romby team (NetRNA) at the IBMC under the supervision of Dr. Alexandre Smirnov and Dr. Isabelle Caldelari.

“I chose to join the IMCBio program for the opportunity to train in laboratories and with researchers of excellence in their field. Moreover, the international setting of IMCBio provides an excellent framework for sharing and discovering, both on a human and scientific level”, he concludes.

Lihua Li – PhD Student – Jean-Luc Imler’s team, NetRNA

Lihua Li is a student from Guangzhou (China), having completed her Master’s program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Guangzhou Medical University.

During her master’s research career, she focused on the activation of the cGAS-STING pathway in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, contributing to the flies’ resistance to viral infection. And her master’ thesis was to identify the endogenous ligand for STING in Drosophila. In this period, she discovered a novel cyclic dinucleotide, 2’3’-cdiGMP, mediates STING-dependent antiviral immunity in flies. This groundbreaking result was published in Immunity in September 2023, which Lihua Li signed as a co-first author.

Her master’s thesis raises the possibility that still other CDNs, or even cyclic trinucleotides as described in bacteria, are produced in animals. Lihua Li would like to investigate this question during her PhD studies. Therefore, she joined the team led by the pioneer in antiviral innate immunity, Professor Jean-Luc Imler, to extend the work initiated during her master’s thesis. Her PhD project is to explore the diverse cyclic dinucleotides across species upon virus infection.  

Lihua Li explains that “the decision to join the IMCBio program was driven by its distinguished faculty, advanced research opportunities, and the collaborative learning environment. I am eager to contribute to the scientific community at IMCBio and confident that this program will be instrumental in fostering my growth as a researcher”.

Aishwarya Juneja – PhD Student – Roland Marquet & Jean-Christophe Paillart’s team, NetRNA

Aishwarya Juneja is from Maharashtra (India). She started research in 2018 in Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Pune (IISER-P) where she carried out an integrated Bachelors and Masters program for 5 years from 2018 to 2023. 

After that, she carried out her Master’s project in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc). During her bachelors and masters, she carried out projects on RNA Biology and gradually her interests leaned towards studying RNA-protein interactions in the context of pathogenic organisms, especially viruses.

She joined the Research Cluster NetRNA at IBMC in September 2023. Her PhD project in the laboratory of Dr. Roland Marquet and Dr. Jean-Christophe Paillart aims to study the interactions of genomic RNA and the nucleocapsid protein in coronaviruses as these interactions play a pivotal role in the process of viral assembly. She will study these interactions both in-vitro and in-cells. The viral RNAs and proteins she will be working on are derived from HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2.

“Although, the recent pandemic helped us understand the mechanism of action of SARS-CoV-2, the viral assembly is still not very well understood”, she explains. The pandemic played a major influence in making her choose this PhD project.

Her choice of the IMCBio was motivated by its well-integrated program and and the fact that it offers a scientific platform with state-of-the-art techniques for an early research career. “It is important to have a strong foundation for research and I believe IMCBio can help me with that due to its interdisciplinary nature”, she adds

Her hobbies include painting and reading beautifully illustrated comics and webtoons. Aishwarya likes also to relieve her stress with sports; and cooking and drawing are therapeutic to her.

Jules Rigal – PhD Student – Christophe Romier & Christelle Golzio’s team, INRT

Jules Rigal completed a degree in life sciences in Nîmes. Afterward, he enrolled in the University of Strasbourg for a Master’s program in Molecular Biology and Genetics, where he joined the IMCBio Master program. Thanks to the IMCBio Ph.D. program, he completed three distinct internships, solidifying his interest in scientific research, particularly in molecular biology studies conducted in Strasbourg. This experience motivated him to pursue a Ph.D. program.

In 2023, Jules joined the team of Dr. Christophe Romier and Dr. Christelle Golzio at the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC) as a Ph.D. student. His research focuses on the Cohesin complex and its regulators in the 3D organization of the genome: mechanisms, functions, and involvement in diseases. The IGBMC, renowned for its expertise in integrative biology, provides Jules with the resources to unravel the mysteries surrounding this vital yet not entirely understood protein complex. 

Jules’s decision to opt for the IMCBio Ph.D. program was largely influenced by his positive experiences with research teams in Strasbourg during his prior studies. This program offers him comprehensive and transdisciplinary training across various scientific fields, preparing him for active participation in the scientific research landscape of the future.

Horia Boursas – PhD Student – Jocelyn Laporte’s team, IGBMC

Horia was born and raised in Nancy (France) and did most of her education there. She has a bachelor in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as a bachelor in applied foreign languages in English and Arabic, both from Université de Lorraine.
She recently graduated with a master’s degree in biotechnologies and molecular engineering from the same university.

During her academic path, she had the opportunity to work and study abroad in the UK, Canada and Germany. She has worked on various topics like synthetic biology applied to bacterial quorum sensing, caracterization of rhumatoid arthritis and engineering of light-sensitive human ion channels.

Her project aims to identify and validate novel genes involved in muscle disease.

Horia chose the IMCBio program “thanks to the quality of the research projects and institutions, in a field I am highly interested to: biomedicine. The international environment was also appealing to me.”

During her spare time, she enjoys cooking, baking, crochet and other crafty activities.