Each person in our lab makes a significant contribution to our research. We employ a proactive approach to science by constantly asking the question, “What if…?” Meet our current team to learn more about their individual “What if…” focus areas.
Our Team
Current Team
Principle Investigator
Maria Carla Saleh, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Viruses and RNAi Unit, Department of Virology, Institut Pasteur Paris
“What if we redefined innate immunity by better understanding the immune system of infected insects? What if we could selectively control infected insects from transmitting diseases to humans?”
Post Docs
Juan A. Mondotte
PostDoctoral Fellow
“What if the infected insects were able to protect their offspring from the infection? What if innate immunity could display specific, transgenerational, anti viral memory?”
Vanesa Mongelli
PostDoctoral Fellow
“What if the innate immune system could impact viral evolution? What if we could remove the insect immunity pathways one by one? What if viral population diversity could be modified by removing some immune pathways?”
Lorena Tome
PostDoctoral Fellow
“What if we could dissect how the dsRNA molecules enter into a cell? What is we could find a receptor and pathway that could then be manipulated in order to avoid the transmission of viruses from insects to humans (or from insects to plants or animals)?”
Yasutsugu Suzuki
PostDoctoral Fellow
“What if we could find why some mosquitoes transmit viral diseases and some do not? What if very ancient viral insertions in the mosquito genome would play a role in mosquito antiviral immunity? What if we could predict risks for expansion of novel transmission routes of vector-borne diseases?”
Virginia Carla De Oliveira
PostDoctoral Fellow
“What if we could identify unknown/new proteins in insects that have antiviral effect? Could we use these proteins to boost antiviral immunity in mammals?”
Graduate Students
Irena Chacon
Ph.D. Student
“What if if we could better understand the insect-virus relationship by dissecting the basis that governs their coevolution? What if we could use this knowledge to develop effective ways to prevent the spread of insects borne viral diseases?”
Technical Staff
Valerie Dorey
Technician and Lab Manager
“What if we could further streamline our experimental protocols to make the lab operate even more efficiently? What if each lab member could do more with their individual research because I was able to provide additional experimental support?”
Hervé Blanc
Technician
“What if my deep sequencing libraries could be created faster, better and more efficiently in order to give the scientists the data they need to make even more discoveries, conclusions and ‘Aha!’ moments?”
Bioinformatics
Administrative Staff
Lionel Frangeul
Bioinformatician
“What if the informatics structure was so strong that our deep sequencing analysis could provide each scientist with solid biological and mathematical data to clarify results and propose new biological models?”
Brigitte Bidault
Administrative Assistant
“What if all administrative distractions like equipment needs, travel arrangements, welcoming of PhD Students and Post-docs, scheduling, planning and budgeting, were taken care of so that the lab members could focus all their energy just on the research and their experiments?”
Lab Alumni
Chloé Baron
former Master2, current Maquettiste infographiste multimédia, Autograf Formation School, Paris, France
Susan Carpenter
visiting Professor on sabbatical from Iowa State University
Bertsy Goic
former Post Doc, current unknown
Margot Karlikow
former Master and PhD, current Post Doc at University of Toronto
Benjamin Obadia
former Master 2, PhD Graduate Student; current PostDoc, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Adrien Paul-Dubois-Taine
former Master1, current Ph.D./MD Program – Liliane Bettencourt School of INSERM
Marine Petit
former PhD, current postdoc
Nidia Andrea Schemmel Jofre
former Master1
Nicolas Vodovar
former Post Doc, current Research Associate, Lariboisière Hospital – INSERM UMR-S 942, Paris, France
Remi Woussen
former L3 (undergraduate)
Last updated: September 2016