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Thank you IMCBio Master students for another successful IMCBio Symposium

This year again from November 21 – 25, 2022, M2 students from the IMCBio program organized a successful international Symposium. Fourteen national and international speakers were our guests. This year’s program covered Plant Biology, Virology, Immunology, Structural – and Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology and Genetics, as well as a distinguished lecture co-organized with the Cercle Gutenberg. Three different locations hosted the presentations this year : Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP), Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IBMC), and the Institut de Génétique, Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC).

Students and lecturers had many possibilities to exchange, not only during the question time that followed the talks, but also during the coffee breaks and shared lunches.

After a busy and intensive week, we expect that all participating M1 and M2 students from IMCBio as well as their non-IMCBio peers left for the weekend with many new ideas and having made valuable contacts.

Top from left to right: Dr Mark Cock (Station Biologique de Roscoff) at IBMP ; Dr Peter Brodersen (Copenhagen University) at IBMP ; Dr Mei Li (IGBMC, Illkirch) at IBMC. Bottom from left to right : BGM M2 students present Dr Jean Louis Mandel (IGBMC; Illkirch) at IGBMC; M1 and M2 students at the IGBMC Auditorium ; Dr Thibaut Klein (University Hospital, Basel) at IGBMC.

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Welcome to our new PhD students – Part IV

In our fourth edition of Welcome PhDs to IMCBio we have portraits from Maximilian Kohl from Austria and Karan Joshi from India.

Research Cluster NetRNA at ARN-Unit, IBMC – Maximilian Kohl

Maximilian Kohl is a young Austrian graduate student with interest in RNA biology and translation/ribosome research. While studying Molecular Medicine to obtain a master’s degree in his hometown at the Medical University of Innsbruck, he joined the lab of Prof. Matthias Erlacher for a master’s thesis project, specializing in bacterial translation initiation. Intrigued by this intricate process at the heart of post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms, he carried out research addressing novel and lesser-explored aspects of translation initiation. Through the guidance of his kind-spirited and supportive supervisor, his project progressed to a point where his findings are now close to publication. He is eager to see his work shared with the scientific community and looks forward to receiving feedback.

Maximilian was keen on pursuing the next step of a scientific career, performing basic research to obtain a doctoral degree. In, what he describes as “a stroke of good fortune”, he turned his attention to Strasbourg and the IMCBio graduate program. While presenting his research during a poster session at the NetRNA 2022 Congress in honor of Prof. Eric Westhof, he got the chance to meet numerous members of the group of Dr Pascale Romby. Encouraged by the scientific discussions, he decided to apply for a PhD thesis project at the IMCBio graduate school. Because of his passion for translation and ribosome research, he is thrilled to continue working on these subjects, supervised by Dr Stefano Marzi, an expert in the field.

Photo: Maximilian (left) with his former master’s thesis supervisor and members of the research group on the rooftop terrace of the Innsbruck Biocenter

His PhD topic is “a functional study of small proteins and RNA chaperone proteins in translational control in Staphylococcus aureus”. S. aureus is an opportunistic pathogen, whose infamous rise of antibiotic-resistant strains represents a pressing need for in-depth research. While both the virulence as well as the environmental adaptability of S. aureus are facilitated by well-orchestrated programs that regulate gene expression, only little is known about the functional roles and importance of small proteins, derived from small open reading frames (smORFs). Maximilian is excited to dedicate the next few years to this project and thrilled to delve once more into the intricate regulatory mechanisms that govern translational control of prokaryotic gene expression. Even more so, in the beautiful city of Strasbourg, surrounded by a vibrant scientific community and a kind and welcoming research group.

Research Cluster INRT, Department of Translational Medicine and Neurogenetics – Karan Joshi

Karan Joshi studied for an integrated Master’s degree at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Mohali, India (IISER-M). He initially joined the degree with Chemistry in my mind, being fascinated by the beauty and intricacies of molecules, organic synthesis, and molecular kinetics. He was always intrigued him to pursue them. However, after a brief stint with quantum chemistry, he chose to try hands-on other STEM disciplines, for instance, theoretical physics. Not finding much sense in classical mechanics, he preferred moving on to study biology where he initially worked in Ethology, using the Cricket model system first and then avian Jungle Babblers. He found the work in the field quite fulfilling, and at the same time, he felt he matured as a scholar with each course he took in biology, from Advanced cellular biology to Cancer biology to Protein engineering. He spent time learning molecular biology, working with yeast in a ubiquitin biology lab under the supervision of Dr Shravan Kumar Mishra, doing short-term experimentation with scientific rigour.

For his master’s thesis, he spent a year working in an endomembrane trafficking lab under the supervision of Dr Mahak Sharma. During that stay, he dealt with Salmonella and its close interaction with the endomembrane network and the endoplasmic reticulum of epithelial cells using HeLa cells as a model.

This work focused on cellular and molecular biology, enabled him to apply to IGBMC. Karan was attracted to the program by the nature of the research and the interdisciplinary scientific thinking he advocates for. He feels really excited and lucky to have joined Dr Sexton’s lab, which focuses on the genome’s spatial organisation.

When he’s not working or thinking about work, he enjoys reading, looking at art, hiking, birdwatching and photography.

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The IMCBio 2022 Symposium program is ready!

The 2022 edition of the IMCBio Symposium organized by our M2 students is ready! (To see images click right and open in new tab)

On the program: 19 speakers from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, UK and Switzerland. The subjects covered: Plant Biology, Virology, Immunology, Genetics and Molecular Biology as well as Structural- and Developmental Biology. A special series is our “Distinguished Lecturer” Symposium – which this year is co- organized with the Cercle Gutenberg. As in previous years, we co-organize the Immunology Symposium with the Life Science Faculty at the University of Strasbourg.

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Welcome to our new PhD students -Part III

Third week to go! this week we present the portraits of Yash, from India, and Thomas, from France.

Research Cluster INRT – Department of Development and Stem Cells, Yash Parekh

After finishing his Master’s from NIT, Bhopal, India, Yash joined the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology as a Project Associate. Being majorly exposed to translational research, he worked on the development of the 3D bioprinted cornea and was also actively involved in establishing the culture systems for various SARS-CoV2 strains.

In October 2022, he embarked upon his PhD journey under the mentorship of Dr Wojciech Krezel and Dr Pascal Dolle as part of the IMCBio International PhD program. His work revolves around the framework of the “Integrative Biology: Nuclear dynamics, Regenerative and Translational medicine” (INRT) research cluster. His research focuses on deciphering the role of retinoid receptors in the microglial and oligodendrocyte development

Moving to a new country was for Yash a big decision and he is glad his first international experience is in Strasbourg. The city has brought in many new experiences in his life and he states cooking as his upcoming talent.

Yash describes himself as calm, quiet and an ambivert. Apart from spending time in the lab, he loves to indulge in watching movies and is a big Bollywood and MCU fan.

His motivation to join IGBMC stems from his previous work experience and also from the excitement of getting a chance to work in an interdisciplinary and interactive environment and working alongside a very positive mentorship.

Research Cluster NetRNA at ARN-Unit, IBMC – Thomas Morand

After obtaining a degree in sociology in his native city of Nantes and spending a year as an Erasmus exchange student in Lund, Sweden, rich in experiences and discoveries, Thomas Morand decided to reorient himself towards the discipline that had attracted him for many years – biology – with the objective of doing scientific research. He followed a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology in Nantes, then decided to apply for the master’s degree in Biology and Molecular Genetics in Strasbourg associated to the IMCBio program. His choice was motivated by the reputation of the “Eurometropole” in terms of teaching and research in life sciences, but also by the living environment offered by the beautiful city of Strasbourg. As part of his master’s degree, he had the opportunity to do internships at the IGBMC and at the IBMC, which gave him a good overview of the research as a profession.

After his master, he joined Pr Carine Meignin’s team as a PhD Student in the IMCBio PhD program to study the epitranscriptome of viral RNAs and its role in viral replication using Drosophila melanogaster as a model, an innovative and under-explored subject.

He was attracted by the PhD subject which he finds exciting, by the seriousness of the research unit and the host team, as well as the reputation of the IBMC and the IMCBio program. His work will take place in the framework of the NetRNA research cluster.

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Welcome to our new PhD students 2022-2023 – Part II

This week we have the portraits of Solène, from France, and Brian from Mexico.

Research Cluster MitoCross at GMGM – Solène Zuttion

to biology and research, Solène Zuttion has just been recruited by the IMCBio Graduate School and enrolled in its PhD track with the support the Research Cluster MitoCross.

After a BSc in molecular and cellular biology, she completed a MSc degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics in Strasbourg with the dream of doing a PhD and becoming a research scientist. All along her university course, she did a lot of research internships. But it was during her first internship at the Institut de Physiologie et de Chimie Biologique (IPCB) that she became passionate about the intracellular trafficking of proteins (team of Dr. Sylvie Friant) and discovered the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases world main subject of Prof. Hubert Becker’s research. She joyfully combines today the expertise of each team by working under their co-direction on the control of the Tor pathway by organellar echoforms of cytosolic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of the aminoacyl-tRNA. Enabling the decoding of the messenger RNA codons in all living organisms, aminoacyl-tRNAs and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are cornerstone components of the protein synthesis machinery. However, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases can also be post-translationally modified allowing them to relocate from the cytoplasm (location of protein synthesis) to a wide range of different cellular organelles to fulfil numerous uncanonical functions such as regulation of inflammatory response, autophagy, or regulation of the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) as it is the case for leucyl-tRNA synthetase (Figure 1). Pivotal regulator of cell growth and metabolism, TORC1 is mainly located at the vacuole as well as on the surface of late endosomes where it stimulates protein, lipid, and nucleotide synthesis by phosphorylating numerous protein targets. Dysregulated in cancers, the molecular mechanisms allowing its activation and inactivation are still poorly understood and Solène’s PhD research project aims to elucidate how organellar echoforms of cytosolic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase can relay the nutritional sensing to the TOR kinase.

Figure 1. Adapted from Bonfils et al., 2012
(Cartoon by Marine Hemmerlé)

Research Cluster INRT – Department of Integrative and Structural Biology, Brian Lopez

Brian Lopez Duran completed his studies in Biology at UNAM (Autonomous National University of Mexico). He followed his training with a master’s degree in biochemistry at Alfredo Torres Larios’ group, which he considers his most significant step. Throughout these two years, he discovered his passion for Structural Biology. It was common in his lab to be involved in different projects, but his efforts were focused on RNase P, a ribonucleoprotein complex that represents an attractive target for the development of antibiotics. In this challenging project, he explored different areas of the x-ray crystallography and bioinformatic analysis of biomolecules. After numerous attempts to obtain PhD financing, he got the opportunity to continue his training at IMCBio Graduate School under the supervision of Dr. Valerie Lamour.

On the reason for choosing IGBMC/IMCBio for his PhD, Brian says: “There are many reasons for me wanting to join the program. In general, I am deeply interested in the study of nuclei acid complexes from a structural approach. Secondly, I believe that IGBMC through the Structural and Integrative Biology Department has the potential and the resources to develop high-impact research and explore very interesting research questions. A common approach is to analyse the individual components of enormous macromolecular machines, but these elements are not isolated. Techniques like Cryo-EM open the possibility to ask more complex questions about biomolecules in the native cell environment. I would like to help in the search for answers to these questions”. 

Brian (left) with research colleagues in Mexico (image by A. Torres)
Figure 1 RNase P with P protein interacting with pre-tRNA, PDB: 6MAX (image: Torres, Madrigal – modified by Brian Lopez)