Nathalie Sauvonnet

As a cell biologist and microbiologist my major interest focused on protein trafficking in different cellular compartments. In bacteria, during my PhD and postdoc I studied secretion mechanisms (Type 1, 2 and 3 secretion systems, TnSS) and the surface appendage type IV pili, often involved in pathogenic processes. Using microbiology methods, genetics screens, scanning electron microscopy and biochemistry approaches, I uncovered characteristic features of secreted cargos, revealed the close relation between type IV pili and T2SS and analysed the impact of T3SS on host cell transcriptome. As a permanent researcher, I turned my interest to eukaryotes having multi-compartmentalized cells and studied endocytosis and the dynamics of the endomembrane system. Since 2006, I lead a small team aiming to determine the interplay between intracellular trafficking, tissue mechanics, tissue homeostasis and host-pathogen interactions. On endocytosis, my team used RNAi screen, CrispR-Cas9 gene edition, live TIRF microscopy, robust image analysis and single particle tracking, to characterize the molecular and dynamical aspect of clathrin-independent endocytosis. In parallel, we also studied the consequence of pathogens invasion on the host cell intracellular trafficking. More recently we developed organ-on-chip technology to investigate host-pathogen interactions at the tissue scale using several examples of pathogens (ex: Shigella and SARS-CoV-2) in the aim to decipher the impact of tissue microenvironment and mechanical forces on pathogen invasion.