Team Leader

To survive and replicate within a cell, intracellular bacteria, viruses, or parasites, must accommodate the intracellular environment to fulfill their needs. In response to this invasion, the host cell initiates defense mechanisms to eliminate the pathogen. Our research focuses on these highly dynamic interactions between intracellular pathogens and their host cells.

Intracellular pathogens have evolved into inadvertent teachers of cell biology. Through their unique perturbation of normal cell biology, they show us novel aspect of molecular mechanisms controlling dynamic cellular events.

Our emerging research team aims to understand the molecular dynamics that unfold during intracellular infection. Our primary pathogen of interest is Salmonella, a food-borne bacterium classified as “high-priority” by the World Health Organization and a versatile model to study intracellular bacterial pathogenesis.

We investigate how Salmonella hijacks host signaling pathways to remodel intracellular architecture and establish a unique replication-permissive niche that supplies nutrients while limiting host detection. A central focus of our work is how post-translational modifications reshape intracellular trafficking during infection, ultimately driving the formation of a specialized bacteria-containing vacuole that fulfills bacterial needs.

Because intravacuolar replication is a strategy shared by major human pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Legionella pneumophila, our research provides a framework to identify common principles of niche formation. By uncovering these shared mechanisms, we aim to inform new therapeutic strategies that target the intracellular shelters on which pathogens depend for survival.

Team

Scientists

Virginie Stévenin

Master Student

Esteban Francois

Stévenin et al. (2024) Multi-omic analyses of cancer-associated clinical Salmonella reveal a bacterial-induced host metabolic shift leading to cell transformation. Cell Rep

Stévenin & Neefjes (2022) Control of host PTMs by intracellular bacteria: an opportunity towards novel anti-infective agents. Cell Chem Biol

Stévenin et al. (2021) Purification of infection-associated macropinosomes by magnetic isolation for proteomic characterization. Nat Protoc

Stévenin et al. (2019) Dynamic growth and shrinkage of the Salmonella-containing vacuole determines the intracellular pathogen niche. Cell Rep

Voznica et al. (2018). Identifying parameters of host cell vulnerability during Salmonella infection by quantitative image analysis and modeling. Infect Immun

Salmonella building a vacuolar niche in an epithelial cell.

Publications

Collaborations & Funding