About my research

I am a third-year PhD student in the TrEE team at TIMC in Grenoble (France). My research focuses on insertion sequences (IS), which are the simplest class of prokaryotic transposable elements: they only code for a transposase, the enzyme that catalyzes their movement within genomes. I’m interested in the evolutionary dynamics of these elements and in how they interact with the rest of the genome.

I combine wet lab with dry lab approaches: at the bench, I try to determine how selection filters IS insertions on a short timescale. At my computer, I analyze the distribution of IS in a wide range of prokaryotic genomes to explore IS dynamics on a longer timescale. I’m particularly interested in genome ecology approaches of IS dynamics: we can use concepts stemming from ecology to ask relevant questions about IS biology. For instance, how can we define the ecological niche of an IS element? Are they in competition with each other and with other mobile genetic elements, or do they cooperate? Can we find traces of niche construction or ecological successions in genomes?

I’m supervised by Ivan Junier and Thomas Hindré: Ivan is a biophysicist and helps me analyze my large datasets, and Thomas is a microbiologist who helps me design and carry out my wet lab experiments. Sophie Abby also occasionally helps me out when I need to handle questions related to prokaryotic phylogeny.

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to reach out to discuss my research!

The image above shows the distribution of various IS families across prokaryotic genomes.

This animation shows the dynamics of IS-mediated mutations in the different bacterial populations from the Long-Term Evolution Experiment. Each circle is a map of the genome that shows where IS elements inserted in that population.

About me

In my spare time, I do amateur photography (you can see a few samples here). I also play the saxophone with the Contrefa’son and I’m an aikidoka.