About us.
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Our Team
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Xavier De Bolle
Xavier performed his master thesis (1989-1990) in the yeast genetics lab of Jean Vandenhaute. Afterwards, he made his PhD thesis (1990-1995) in the lab of Ernest Feytmans, working on the 3D modeling of yeast alcohol dehydrogenases structures, and experimentally testing their stability. His first post-doc (1996) was in the lab of Jean-Jacques Letesson, where he worked with Pascal Mertens to isolate peptidic mimotopes of Brucella lipopolysaccharide epitopes. All these research activities were performed at the University of Namur (UNamur, Belgium). His second post-doc (1998) was made in the lab of Richard Moxon, at the University of Oxford (UK), on the genetic mechanism of phase variation in Haemophilus influenzae. He was hired at a permanent position at the URBM in UNamur in 1999. From 2000, he developed research on the identification of virulence regulators in Brucella melitensis on one side, and the characterization of cell cycle control in Brucella abortus on the other side. Since 2010, tools were developed to follow Brucella abortus cell cycle in culture and in infection, at the single cell resolution. Currently, the team is interested in the events occurring at the envelope, during growth and division. They are also investigating the adaptation to stresses encountered by B. abortus during infection. The team is essentially funded by grants from national funds for research (FRS-FNRS) and ARC from French-speaking federation (FWB). Link to my website |
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Jean-François Collet
After studying bioengineering at UCLouvain (1995), Jean-François started a PhD at the de Duve Institute under the supervision of Pr Emile Van Schaftingen. During his thesis, he discovered one of the largest families of phosphotransferases. In 2001, he continued his research in the laboratory of Pr Jim Bardwell (HHMI, University of Michigan) and worked on the oxidative folding of proteins in the bacterial envelope. It was there that he specialised in bacteriology. In 2005, he started his own research group at the de Duve Institute. He decided to combine his expertise in biochemistry and microbiology to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms by which bacteria adapt to always changing environmental conditions and respond to stress. The aim of his laboratory is to identify and characterise new proteins that play an important role in the mechanisms that allow Gram-negative bacteria to detect the toxic molecules they face, including antibiotics, and to protect themselves against the damage caused by these molecules. His research is paving the way for the development of new strategies to combat Gram-negative bacteria. Link to my website |
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Géraldine Laloux
Géraldine obtained her Master degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Namur in 2005, after an internship in the laboratory of Marc Vidal (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA). During her PhD in Sciences under the supervision of X. De Bolle (University of Namur, 2005-2009), she studied host-pathogen interactions using Brucella as a model system. As a post-doc in the group of C. Jacobs-Wagner (Yale University, USA, 2010-2013), she discovered a mechanism of dynamic subcellular localisation of polar proteins in Caulobacter crescentus, and specialised in bacterial genetics and live fluorescence microscopy. Géraldine moved back to Belgium in 2013 in the group of J.-F. Collet (UCLouvain), where she found a new role for an envelope stress response system in E. coli and unveiled the function of a lipoprotein sensor. She was appointed permanent researcher of the F.R.S.-FNRS at UCLouvain in 2017. Her lab focuses on the cell biology and molecular interactions of predatory bacteria. Link to my website https://lalouxlab.weebly.com/ |
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Patrice Soumillion
Patrice is active in the field of enzymology and directed evolution. His work is motivated by the desire to understand enzyme function and molecular evolution but also to develop new methods and strategies to improve our ability to investigate. He is author of over a hundred peer-reviewed manuscript and co-inventor of three patented applications. Prof Soumillion is actively involved several Marie Curie networks, such as ES-Cat and EVOdrops. Link to my website |
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Selected Publications
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Patrice Soumillion
1. Gargiulo S & Soumillion P (2021) Directed evolution for enzyme development in biocatalysis. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology; 61:107-113 2. Desguin B, Urdiain-Arraiza J, Da Costa M, Fellner M, Hu J, Hausinger RP, Desmet T, Hols P & Soumillion P (2020) Uncovering a superfamily of nickel-dependent hydroxyacid racemases and epimerases. Science Report; 10(1):18123 3. Khan MS, Gargiulo S, Soumillion P (2020) Promiscuous activity of 3-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase produced at physiological level affords Escherichia coli growth on dmalate. FEBS Letters; 594(15):2421- 2430 4. Desguin B, Fellner M, Riant O, Hu J, Hausinger RP, Hols P & Soumillion P (2018) Biosynthesis of the nickel-pincer nucleotide cofactor of lactate racemase requires a CTP-dependent cyclometallase. Journal of Biological Chemistry; 293(32):12303-12317 5. Galka P, Jamez E, Joachim G & Soumillion P (2017) QuickLib, a method for building fully synthetic plasmid libraries by seamless cloning of degenerate oligonucleotides. PLoS One; 12(4):e0175146 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=soumillion+p&sort=date Géraldine Laloux
1. Remy O, Lamot T, Santin Y, Kaljevic J, de Pierpont C, Laloux G (2022) An optimized workflow to measure bacterial predation in microplates. STAR Protocols, 3(1):101104 2. Kaljevic J, Saaki TNV, Govers S, Remy O, van Raaphorst R, Lamot T & Laloux G (2021). Chromosome choreography during the non-binary cell cycle of a predatory bacterium. Current Biology, 31(17):3707-3720.e5 3. Laloux G (2020). Shedding Light on the Cell Biology of the Predatory Bacterium. Frontiers in microbiology; 10, 3136 4. Delhaye A*, Laloux G*§ & Collet JF§ (2019). The lipoprotein NlpE is a Cpx sensor that serves as a sentinel for protein sorting and folding defects in the envelope. Journal of bacteriology; 201(10), e00611-18 *co-first authors, §co-corresponding authors 5. Hussein NA, Cho SH, Laloux G, Siam R & Collet JF (2018). Distinct domains of Escherichia coli IgaA connect envelope stress sensing and down-regulation of the Rcs phosphorelay across subcellular compartments. PLoS Genetics; 14, e1007398 5. Delhaye A, Collet JF & Laloux G (2016). Fine-Tuning of the Cpx Envelope Stress Response Is Required for Cell Wall Homeostasis in Escherichia coli. mBio; 7(1), e00047-16 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Laloux+g&sort=date |
Xavier De Bolle
1. Demars A, Vitali A, Comein A, Carlier E, Azouz A, Goriely S, Smout J, Flamand V, Van Gysel M, Wouters J, Abendroth J, Edwards T, Machelart A, Hoffmann E, Brodin E, De Bolle X* & Muraille E* (2021) Aconitate decarboxylase 1 participates in the control of pulmonary Brucella infection in mice. PLoS Pathogen; 17(9):e1009887 *co-last 2. Godessart P, Lannoy A, Dieu M, Van der Verren SE, Soumillion P, Collet JF, Remaut H, Renard P & De Bolle X (2021) b-barrels covalently link peptidoglycan and the outer membrane in the aproteobacterium Brucella abortus. Nature Microbiology; 6:27-33 3. Poncin K, Roba A, Jimmidi R, Potemberg G, Fioravanti A, Francis N, Willemart K, Zeippen N, Machelart A, Biondi EG, Muraille E, Vincent SP & De Bolle X (2019) Occurrence and repair of alkylating stress in the intracellular pathogen Brucella abortus. Nature Communications; 10, 4847 4. Vassen V, Valotteau C, Feuillie C, Formosa-Dague C, Dufrêne YF & De Bolle X (2019) Localized incorporation of outer membrane components in the pathogen Brucella abortus. EMBO Journal; 38, e100323 5. Poncin K, Gillet S & De Bolle X (2018) Learning from the master: targets and functions of the CtrA response regulator in Brucella abortus and other alpha-proteobacteria. FEMS Microbiology Review; 42, 500-513 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=de+bolle+x&sort=date Jean-François Collet
1. El Rayes J, Szewczyk J, Deghelt M, Csoma N, Matagne A, Iorga B, Cho SH & Collet JF (2021). Disorder is a critical component of lipoprotein sorting in Gram-negative bacteria. Nature Chemical Biology, 2. Rodriguez Alonso R, Létoquart J, Nguyen VS, Louis G, Calabrese AN, Iorga B, Radford SE, Cho SH, Remaut H & Collet JF (2020) Structural insight into the formation of lipoprotein-β-barrel complexes. Nature Chemical Biology; 16(9):1019-1025 3. Mathelie-Guinlet M, Asmar A, Collet JF* & Dufrêne Y* (2020) Lipoprotein Lpp regulates the mechanical properties of the E. coli cell envelope. Nature Communications; 11, 1789 *: co-corresponding authors 4. Goemans CV, Vertommen D, Agrebi R & Collet JF (2018) CnoX Is a Chaperedoxin: A Holdase that Protects Its Substrates from Irreversible Oxidation. Molecular Cell; 70, 614-627 5. Ezraty B, Gennaris A, Barras F & Collet JF (2017) Oxidative stress, protein damage and repair in bacteria. Nature Reviews Microbiology; 15, 385-396 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=collet+jf&sort=date |
