Henrich Gasparovic is awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship

Dr. Henrich Gasparovic, postdoctoral researcher at IPBS since October 2023, PhD in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Comenius University (Bratislava, Slovakia), is laureate of a 2-year Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2025. His project will be developed under the supervision of Dr. Christophe Guilhot, research director and leader of the « Molecular Mycobacterial Pathogenesis » team; and will be launched in October 2025.

The increasing prevalence of bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major global health threat, resulting in diminished efficacy of antibiotics and failures in the treatment of bacterial infections. Formation of persisters, a bacterial subpopulation that can evade killing by antibiotics or other stresses and regrow upon stress removal, worsens this problem, as persisters are thought to be a catalyst for the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that formation of persisters and their ability to regrow after termination of antibiotic treatment are causes of the prolonged and relapsing course of many bacterial infections, making this phenomenon clinically significant.

MabADAPT project aims to identify key biological adaptations underlying the formation of bacterial persisters, and to explore their impact on host-pathogen interactions and infection outcomes. These mechanisms will be studied in Mycobacterium abscessus (Mabs), a clinically relevant pathogen (responsible for severe pulmonary infections, particularly in cystic fibrosis patients) known for its high antibiotic resistance and ability to endure harsh conditions during infection. Thus, the understanding of these adaptations can lead to development of innovative treatments tackling not only Mabs infections, but also the broader threat of bacterial AMR.

As part of Horizon Europe, the MSCA are the European Union’s flagship funding programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training. It supports young researchers’ careers and fosters excellence in research. In 2025, 1696 laureates have been selected for funding by a Postdoctoral Fellowship among 10360 applicants; which represents 16.6% of all the projects evaluated. In France, 160 researchers out of 932 were awarded one for their projects; with a success rate of 17.3%.

The project MabADAPT is referenced under the project ID 101203035.