Alexandre LUCAS

IE (INSERM Research Engineer)

Alexandre is the founder and manager of the We-Met platform. He is a specialist in protein biochemistry. He manages the platform and is responsible for various training courses and developments.

Career path
He started in 2005 at Inserm in Chatenay-Malabry in cardiac signalling and then joined the I2MC in 2010. He then founded the We-Met platform in 2015.

Field of expertise
Protein Biochemistry, Simple Western, Seahorse, ,Biomarkers discovery

Corinne BERNIS

AI (assistant engeineer INSERM) 

Corinne is an assistant engineer specialised in protein biochemistry. She has been involved in numerous cell signalling projects in vascular models during 15years. She joined the We-Met functional biochemistry platform at the end of 2019. Today, she is leader for the simple western part of the platform. She trains platform users on the technologies for protein analysis and biomarker research and supports researchers in R&D projects.

Career path
DUT : technological degree in biological engineering. Corinne was recruted by INSERM in 2009 after a university job in Toulouse. She is at the functional biochemistry facility We-Met since 2019.

Expertise area
Protein biochemistry. Simple western technology. Biomarker research.

Steven FRIED

IR (Research Engineer CDD INSERM)

Steven participates in the various projects of the We-met platform, he is notably involved in the development of new detection techniques and biochemical assays.

Career path
After a PhD from Paul Sabatier University and a post-doctoral experience at the Institute of Digestive Health Research in Toulouse, he will join the We-Met platform at the Institute of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases (I2MC) in 2021.

Field of expertise 
Biochemistry, cell biology and in vivo model studies

Henrik LAURELL

Senior staff scientist

After undergraduate studies in biology and biochemistry in Sweden (Linköping) and USA (Boulder, CO), and PhD studies in Lund (Sweden) and in Toulouse, Henrik Laurell, defended his thesis in 1998 at the Lund University. After 2 post-doctoral positions in Toulouse, he obtained an Inserm position in 2004 as a staff scientist. His interest in methodology in molecular biology (and especially in qPCR), resulted in the development of the ValidPrime method and more recently QSeeD, a qPCR-based method to determine cell death. Since 2019 he has been using proximity-based biotinylation (TurboID) to define the proxisome/interactome of proteins of interest. In 2021 he joined the We-Met plateau to help the teams in the institute to develop projects based on the TurboID technology.

Main domains of expertise:
Molecular biology, qPCR, gene expression, molecular cloning, protein biochemistry, protein-protein interactions, proximity-based biotinylation

Laurent MARTINEZ

PhD, Director of research, Group leader

Laurent Martinez received his PhD degree in physiopathology from Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse, France). He is Director of research at Inserm and head a research team at I2MC since 2011.

Career path
After his PhD, Laurent Martinez did a post-doc at Columbia University (NYC, USA) in the laboratory of Pr. Alan Tall, working on the role of ABC transporters in lipoprotein metabolism. He did a second post-doc at the Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge (former Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, UK) in the team of Sir John Walker. He then integrated the CPTP research Institute in Toulouse, heading first an Inserm Avenir Team then his team moved to I2MC in 2011.

Main area of expertise
Lipoproteins, mitochondria, purinergic receptor, biomarkers, metabolic and cardiovascular disorders.