After almost seven exceptionally enriching years in the Neefjes lab at the LUMC, I am coming back to France with my research, funding, and... excitement!!  

I am joining the IPBS Toulouse institute and will lead my research lines within the Inflame Team🔥!

In collaboration with the Eyckerman and Van Damme labs, we employed the unique Virotrap mass spectrometry–based technology to identify a novel set of SopB-associated host proteins. We demonstrate a direct interaction between SopB and the ubiquitin-binding domains of the ESCRT-0 subunit HGS, and show that SopB promotes ESCRT-0 recruitment to the Salmonella-containing vacuole. These findings uncover a previously unrecognized SopB-dependent mechanism by which Salmonella manipulates host membrane dynamics. 

Hats off to Margaux de Meyer for driving this discovery during her PhD! 

Full reference: De Meyer M, Verhee A,  Grzesik H, De Sutter D,  Huyghe J,  Delhaye L, Van de Steene T,  Fijalkowski I, Jonckheere V,  Meuris L,  Bertrand M,  Van Damme P#*,  Stévenin V#*,  Eyckerman S#*. 2025. Virotrap Reveals Salmonella SopB as A Ubiquitinated Cargo for Host ESCRT-0

BioRxiv doi:10.1101/2025.08.19.669813 

The 8-9 May 2025, the Trippenhuis (Amsterdam) hosted the DSCB meeting “Cell Biology in the Lowlands”. Two days to cover the current state of cell biology in the flat country. 

We had amazing speakers at every career stage, including keynotes Stefan Linder, Anna Akhmanova and Jacques Neefjes. 

It was a great pleasure to be part of the organizing team together with Alessandra Cambi,  Jaap van Buul, Erik Danen, Elsa Neubert, Koen van den Dries and Zary Forghany.

Our comment entitled "Salmonella, the insidious contributor to gallbladder and colon cancers" is out in Nature Reviews Cancer and already dragged quite some attention. Check it out here!

Our Cell Reports article got nice coverage from the media: the LUMC website, local radio, and newspapers. With some fun interviews and even a professional photograph! 

I will be in Paris from the 25th to the 29th of November (2024), visiting Kristine Schauer's lab at the Institut Gustave Roussy, and I will come by Institut Pasteur at the end of the week.

I have a time slot for a talk at Pasteur on the 29th, 10:30 am. Come by or catch me for a chat! For extra motivation, this is how ChatGPT interprets the title of my talk. Intriguing, isn't it?

It's a wrap-up! Our latest research on Salmonella promotion of colon cancer development is out in Cell Reports! Check it out: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114931

Highlights:

• Transformation efficiency (TE) is intrinsic and varies between clinical Salmonella strains

• TE is linked to gene expression, nutrient utilization, and intracellular replication

• Cell transformation requires Salmonella entry and intracellular replication activating mTOR

• Transient mTOR inhibition reverses the transformation phenotype instigated by Salmonella

I had the great pleasure of being a PhD jury for Margaux de Meyer. After an excellent private defense topped up with an invited seminar, scientific discussions, and dinner with my wonderful hosts, we gathered again in Ghent for the public defense!

The Gratama Foundation and Leiden University funds will sponsor our MicroArchitects project. We'll develop a new microscopy tool to image the reorganization of the host endocytic system by bacterial effectors.

Big news! I have received the VENI grant from the NWO Talent Programme to develop my own research line in the coming 3 years.

This project investigates how Salmonella manipulates the host ubiquitin machinery to establish its intracellular niche.

Have you ever wondered if your favorite pathogen was also an oncogenic agent? 

We just published our detailed protocol that uses soft agar assays to measure cell transformation upon Salmonella infection in STAR Protocols. This protocol was used to evaluate the transformation potency of 60 clinical non typhoidal Salmonella strains (preprint).

We hope this will help others perform similar investigations with their favorite bug. And in case of troubleshooting, we are just one email away and happy to help!