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BIPAR JRU : Molecular Biology and Parasite Immunology

The JRU (The BIPAR Joint Research Unit) was created in 1998 and brings together around fifty researchers, teacher-researchers, engineers, technicians, research support staff, post-doctoral and doctoral students.

• Director : Sara Moutailler
• Assistant director : Delphine Le Roux
• Executive Assistant : Grégory Karadjian

The unit is attached to ANSES (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail), INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) and EnvA (Ecole nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort).

RESEARCH

The UMR BIPAR (set up in 1998) develops :

• from fundamental to applied research to improve our understanding of hosts-pathogens interactions (at the molecular, cellular, tissue/salivary gland or food matrix, host and ecosystem levels, including the microbiota of vertebrate and invertebrate hosts) and the circulation of these pathogens.
• innovative control strategies for ticks, arthropod-borne pathogens and food-borne zoonotic parasites (improved detection and monitoring, 'universal' vaccine strategies or in target species, 'ecological' alternatives to antiparasitic treatments and acaricides, etc.).

For several years now, the JRU has been developing more ecosystemic approaches for the research themes of each team, in particular with the emergence of studies of the microbiota of the vertebrate host (Giardia/Cryptosporidium) or the invertebrate host (ticks). In addition, various -omics approaches have been introduced, several of which have been specifically developed in our unit.

This has led to several current or future applications, some of which are particularly innovative, in the fields of diagnosis/screening (e.g. Trichinella), surveillance using high-throughput tools (agents transmitted by different arthropod vectors), differentiation between zoonotic and non-zoonotic strains (B. henselae) or between abortive and non-abortive strains (A. phagocytophilum), the development of vaccines (anti-tick vaccines, tick microbiota vaccines and 'universal' antimicrobials) or innovative anti-parasite therapeutics (Cryptosporidium, Giardia).

The  JRU benefits from state-of-the-art equipment acquired with the financial support of the Ile de France Region, the EnvA and the ANSES (DIM Malinf and DIM 1Health), such as a confocal microscope, a flow cytometer, a Maldi-Tof mass spectrometer and a tick rearing platform (Tickarium). Our laboratories are also equipped for cell culture (cell lines or primary cells), molecular biology, immunology, cell biology and biochemistry.

REFERENCE ACTIVITIES

The JRU also hosts a National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for food-borne parasites, excluding Echinococcus, and a WOAH Collaborating Centre for food-borne zoonotic parasites (international mandate obtained in 2014), which shares research-reference projects with the Paralim team and is responsible for national and international reference activities.