Rut Carballido Lopez
I am a biochemical engineer turned into a microbiologist, and eventually into a bacterial cell biologist. After a brief experience in industry in Basel, Switzerland, I pursued my passion for research of the infinite complexity of the ‘simple’ bacterial cells with a Master in General Microbiology from the Pasteur Institute of Paris and a PhD from the University of Oxford, working with Jeff Errington at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology.
I’ve been based in Paris since 2003, where I hold a Director of Research (DR1) position and head the Prokaryotic Cell Development lab at the Micalis Institute (University Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech). I also wear the hat of head of the Systems and Synthetic Microbiology pilar and of Deputy Director of the Micalis Institute. Other current appointments include contributing to science policy and research strategy as a member of the Paris Region Scientific Council (‘Conseil Scientifique Régional d'Île-de-France’, CSR IdF), and of the Pasteur Institute COMESP (committee of experts for the evaluation, integration, and promotion of Faculty Members).
I am interested in understanding how dynamic molecular interactions are regulated in time and in space to form functional machineries that establish long-range orders and cellular functions in bacterial cells, with a particular focus on the bacterial cell envelope - at the frontline of environmental and host-pathogen interactions, and primary target of antibiotics.
My lab combines cutting-edge high-resolution fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy with advanced genetic, biochemical, biophysical and systems biology approaches across several model bacteria. We aim to uncover mechanistic details underlying bacterial cell morphogenesis, cell wall growth, membrane organization, the bacterial actin MreB cytoskeleton, the mode of action and resistance of antibiotics targeting the cell envelope and viral (phage) infection.
For the past 10 years, I have been teaching in the Master programme ‘General Microbiology’ of the University of Paris-Saclay. I have also contributed to Master courses of the Pasteur Institute and the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) of Paris.
