From left to right: Esteban, Virginie and Thomas. Our young, but quickly growing CID research team.

After a PhD under the direction of Jost Enninga at the Institut Pasteur (Paris) and a postdoc with Jacques Neefjes in the (very) flat country, I recently opened my research group at the IPBS in Toulouse, where we explore the dynamic interplay between intracellular bacteria and their host cells. 

My favorite part of the job is cracking scientific puzzles with great people while drinking too much coffee.

Here is my detailed CV.

I am fascinated by the interplay between intracellular bacteria and their hosts, especially the way these pathogens hijack host machinery and pull the strings of the cell from within, like a puppeteer. My project focuses on how Salmonella repurposes the host ubiquitin system, and deubiquitinases (DUBs) in particular, to build and nurture its intracellular replicative niche.

I studied at the École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay (ENS-PS) from 2022 to 2026, where I built a strong foundation in microbiology, cell biology, and immunity. In 2024, I conducted a 9-month internship at the LUMC (Leiden University Medical Center) in the Netherlands, where I studied Salmonella, already under the supervision of Dr.Virginie Stévenin. In 2025, after an M2 in fundamental microbiology at Institut Pasteur, I joined Dr. Virginie Stévenin again to pursue this research adventure, this time in the pink city!

In 2025, I obtained my PhD in cellular microbiology after 4 years of research carried out in Alice Lebreton’s team at the IBENS in Paris, where I investigated the mechanisms and dynamics underlying the intravacuolar lifestyle of Listeria monocytogenes in epithelial cells. I joined the CID lab in October 2026 as a research assistant. My main role is to contribute to lab management and provide technical support to the team, notably through the development of shared experimental resources such as bacterial and cellular tools for microscopy-based approaches. These tools will be used by the team to study the interactions between Salmonella Typhimurium and host cells.