Since 2017, Lucie Etienne-Mesmin is an associate professor at Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA) where is teaching microbiology at Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT). She is conducting her research activities at MEDIS laboratory (joint research unit between Université Clermont Auvergne and INRAE). She is a microbiologist and her main research activities aim to better understand the fate of food pollutants and foodborne pathogens in the human gastrointestinal tract and their impact on gut microbiota. Her work also aims at developing new concepts in nutrition and health by using the by using the potential of various in vitro models simulating the upper and lower digestive tract that are present at MEDIS lab.
She is leading researches that aim to better understand the survival and regulation of virulence genes of food-borne pathogens (mainly diarrheagenic Escherichia coli such as Enterohemorragic E. coli and Enterotoxigenic E. coli) throughout the simulated human gut, as well as decipher the role of gut microbiota in the infection process. Recently, she has been working on the optimization of in vitro gut models simulating different age conditions (such as infant, adult or elderly) and by integrating a mucosal phase that allows to distinguish luminal and mucosal-associated gut microbiota. Due to the increase involvement of human gut microbiota in various disorders, she is currently working on the development of “disease” in vitro gut models, especially simulating the human colon compartment and its associated dysbiotic microbiota of specific disease populations, as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or obese patients.
Selected publications
- Etienne-Mesmin L, Chassaing B, Desvaux M, De Paepe K, Gresse R, Sauvaitre T, Forano E, Van de Wiele T, Schüller S, Juge N, Blanquet-Diot S. Experimental models to study intestinal microbes-mucus interactions in health and disease. FEMS Microbiol Rev, 2019.
- Fournier E, Roussel C, Dominicis A, Ley D, Peyron MA, Collado V, Mercier-Bonin M, Lacroix C, Alric M, Van de Wiele T, Chassard C, Etienne-Mesmin L, Blanquet-Diot S. In vitro models of gut digestion across childhood: current developments, challenges and future trends. Biotechnol Adv, 2021.
- Deschamps C, Fournier E, Uriot O, Lajoie F, Verdier C, Comtet-Marre S, Thomas M, Kapel N, Cherbuy C, Alric M, Almeida M, Etienne-Mesmin L, Blanquet-Diot S. Comparative methods for fecal sample storage to preserve gut microbial structure and function in an in vitro model of the human colon. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 2020.
- Cordonnier C, Etienne-Mesmin L, Thévenot J, Rougeron A, Renier S, Chassaing B, Darfeuille-Michaud A, Barnich N, Blanquet-Diot S, and Livrelli V. Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli pathogenesis: role of Long polar fimbriae in Peyer’s patches interactions. Scientific Reports, 2017.
- Etienne-Mesmin L, Livrelli V, Privat M, Denis S, Cardot J-M, Alric M, and Blanquet-Diot S. Effect of a new probiotic Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain on survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in a dynamic gastrointestinal model. Appl Environ Microbiol, 2011.