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Alain Filloux

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Alain Ange-Marie Filloux
Born (1961-05-01) May 1, 1961 (age 63)
Alma materUniversite d'Aix-Marseille II
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsUtrecht University
French National Centre for Scientific Research
Imperial College London
Nanyang Technological University
ThesisEtude de la secrétion des protéines chez Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1988)
Doctoral advisorProfessor Andrée Lazdunski
Scholia has a profile for Alain Filloux (Q59831120).

Alain Ange-Marie Filloux (born May 1, 1961) is a French/British microbiologist who is the centre director of the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) and a Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He holds joint appointments at both the School of Biological Sciences and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at NTU. His research looks at the chronic infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative bacterium that causes nosocomial infections in people who are immunocompromised and a deadly threat for cystic fibrosis patients. He is also a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London.

Early life and education

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Filloux was a graduate student at Universite d'Aix-Marseille II, where he started to study protein secretion in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.[1][2] He obtained his doctorate under the supervision of Andrée Lazdunski in 1988 and with the support of a European Union fellowship moved to the Netherlands for his postdoctoral research, where he joined Utrecht University and the laboratory of Dr Jan Tommassen.[3]

Research and career

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In 1990, Filloux was promoted to Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, and continued to explore protein secretion in Gram-negative bacteria.[2] He identified that a common mechanism is responsible for the transport of macromolecules across the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria that includes Pseudomonas aeruginosa.[2] In particular he co-discovered what is now called the type II secretion system (T2SS).[2] This finding contributed to understanding protein secretion systems in Gram-negative bacteria, which are essential to their pathogenicity.[2]

In 1994, Filloux was appointed to the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)[3] as a Research Associate (CR1). In 2001, he was promoted as Research Director and headed his laboratory on “Molecular Microbiology and Pathogenicity in Pseudomonads”. Filloux became the Director of the CNRS research unit Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires in 2003.[3] Filloux became increasingly interested in the ability that allows bacteria to live on a surface or tissues as a resilient community known as biofilm. Biofilms are intrinsically resistant to eradication by antibiotics or the immune system, and present a major issue in healthcare. He used bacterial genetics to identify a series of molecular determinants involved in the biofilm formation process, notably extracellular appendages, or fimbriae, he called Cup. Working with Stephen Lory from Harvard Medical School, Filloux discovered a regulatory switch, LadS, which allows Pseudomonas aeruginosa to transition from planktonic to a biofilm.

In 2007 he joined Imperial College London, where he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection.[4] Filloux continued to work on protein secretion systems, but concentrated his research on the so-called Type VI secretion system (T6SS), a molecular crossbow that delivers toxins in competing bacterial competitors and kills them. He discovered many T6SS toxins in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and described how these could be transported in target bacteria notably by being placed at the tip of the molecular arrowhead.[5]

One such example is VgrG2b, which contains a metallopeptidase domain targeting, in the prey bacteria, proteins involved in cell wall integrity and cell division.[5] Bacterial preys will then collapse, as they do for example when treated with Βeta-lactam antibiotics.[5] Filloux also carried on studying biofilms, and gained interest in a central switch which involves the universal second messenger cyclic-di-GMP. It was known that high levels of c-di-GMP in bacterial cells turns on biofilm development, and Filloux showed that concomitantly high c-di-GMP levels turned on the T6SS. This suggested that the T6SS is put in place when cells enter a phase allowing polymicrobial communities to establish and is thus prepared to eliminate foes.[5]

While continuing studying protein secretion and biofilm formation, Filloux gained interest investigating antibiotic resistance.[6][7] He collaborated with Dr Gerald Larrouy-Maumus on the development of a protocol for rapid antibiotic resistance screening using mass spectrometry.[8]

In 2022, Filloux was appointed as the centre director of SCELSE in Singapore, where he continues to explore biofilm formation and bacterial secretion systems.  His research on biofilms and bacterial virulence factors continues to shape the field of bacterial infection biology.

Membership and editorial boards

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Filloux has served as an editor for several scientific journals.[3][9] Filloux was Editor-in-Chief for FEMS Microbiology Reviews (2013-2019)[3] and for npj Biolfilms and Microbiomes (2018-2022), which is part of the Nature Partner Journals series, and of which, SCELSE is the scientific partner.[9][10]

Filloux has held several scientific administrative positions including membership of the BBSRC - Research Grants Committee B (2009-2011),[11][12] the MRC Infection and immunity board (2016-2020), the FWO panel Medical Microbiology (2017-2023). He was also chair of the ANR scientific committee on microbiology, immunology and infection (2008-2011 and 2014-2018).

Awards and honours

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Selected academic works

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Publications

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Books

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References

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  1. ^ Filloux, Alain (1988). Etude de la secrétion des protéines chez Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Thesis) (in French). OCLC 1164072817.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Filloux". Fondation Bettencourt Schueller (in French). 2014-09-30. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "FEMS Expert: Professor Alain Filloux". FEMS. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  4. ^ "Professor Alain Filloux". Imperial College London. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  5. ^ a b c d "'Poisoned arrowhead' used by warring bacteria could lead to new antibiotics | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  6. ^ "A toxic bullet involved in bacterial competition found by researchers | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  7. ^ "A toxic bullet involved in bacterial competition". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  8. ^ "New test can identify dangerous bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  9. ^ a b "About the Editors | npj Biofilms and Microbiomes". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  10. ^ Community, Nature Portfolio Microbiology (2020-03-26). "Happy Birthday npj Biofilms and Microbiomes!". Nature Portfolio Microbiology Community. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  11. ^ "2010-2011 Annual Report and Account - BBSRC" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. 28 February 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-07-25. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Annual Report and Accounts 2009-2010 - BBSRC" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. 4 April 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Honours and Memberships - Professor Alain Filloux". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  14. ^ "rae 2008 : submissions : ra5a". www.rae.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  15. ^ "Alain Filloux elected to European Academy of Microbiology | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  16. ^ "Alain Filloux elected to Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
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