Bruno Lemaitre
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Through Genetics, Infection and Morphology (biology)
Career
Lemaitre obtained a PhD in genetics from the Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie in 1992, defending a thesis on the regulation of P element transposition in Drosophila. He then pursued work as research associate in the laboratory of Jules Hoffmann, where he identified Toll-like receptors as essential mediators of innate immunity in Drosophila. This work was considered as a landmark paper by the Nobel prize committee and was featured in the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Hoffmann. In 1998, he was appointed group leader at the Molecular Genetics Center of the French National Center for Scientific Research in Gif-sur-Yvette. He moved to EPFL in 2007 as a full professor within the Global Health Institute.
Lemaitre has since 2016 published several books and essays related to the topic of narcissism in science and society. He is co-author of various MOOCs and an exercise book in French on the topic of immunology.
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Research
The Lemaitre laboratory studies various aspects of innate immunity using Drosophila as a genetic model. The laboratory uses genetic screens as tools to identify novel factors involved in the immune response following microbial infection. His team has contributed to the better understanding the role of the Toll and NF-κB pathways in the activation of bacterial defense, as well as how the host's immune system discriminates between different bacterial pathogens. Lemaitre also studies host-microbiota interactions, and more specifically how the microbiota influences gut homeostasis and morphology.
Another aspect of interest to Lemaitre is to decipher the roles and mechanisms of the interactions occurring between Drosophila and its endosymbionts of the spiroplasma genus.
Distinctions
Lemaitre received two Advanced Grants from the European Research Council for projects on gut immunity and homeostasis (2008) and Drosophila-Spiroplasma interactions (2013).
Lemaitre was elected as an EMBO member in 2007.
He received several research prizes, such as the Noury, Thorlet, Lazare Prize from the French Academy of Sciences (2001), the First Prize of the Schlumberger Foundation (2002), the William B. Coley Award for distinguished research in basic and tumor immunology (2003), the Lucien Tartois Prize from the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (2006) and the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Science (2010).