The Bronze Medal is awarded to researchers who are specialists in their field. This distinction represents an encouragement from the CNRS to pursue research that is already well underway and fruitful.
Researcher in cell biology at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology1 in Toulouse, specializing in host-pathogen interactions.
Since the beginning of his career, Étienne Meunier has been interested in understanding the molecular basis of innate immunity. After his thesis, obtained in 2012 at the University of Toulouse, he left for the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland, where he studied the mechanisms of action of inflammasomes, the intracellular protein complexes that play a major role in host immunity against microbial pathogens. He joined the CNRS in 2016, at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology in Toulouse. Since his recruitment, Étienne Meunier has been leading the Pathogen Detection and Elimination team that he created in 2017. There he continues his research on the role of inflammasomes in the innate response to infections. In 2018, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for the INFLAME project which aims to decipher the mechanisms by which these complexes respond to pathogens. His more recent work seeks to better understand how they hijack host responses to their benefit.
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