Systematic functional characterization of new bacterial cell envelope assembly factors

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Bacteria are unicellular organisms surrounded by a complex cell envelope. This envelope is essential for bacterial growth and survival as it delimits the cell and protects it against environmental assaults and changes in osmotic pressure. Many of our most successful antibiotics, including penicillin and vancomycin, target cell envelope assembly. Ironically, most of our knowledge about bacterial cell envelopes has come from using these antibiotics as functional probes. This has no doubt biased and limited our view of these complex and diverse structures, suggesting a need for alternative approaches. Actually very little is known about how envelope assembly is regulated and how the synthesis of the different layers is coordinated. **I have designed a new genetic screen to take us beyond previous antibiotic-centric studies and improve our understanding of the envelope assembly process. Using this innovative approach, I have discovered many bacterial factors that appear to be critical for biogenesis of the envelope. In my new lab, I aim at shedding light on the molecular and physiological functions of these newly identified factors. To do so, I will combine state-of-the-art bioinformatic, genetic and biochemical approaches as well as molecular and cellular biology techniques. Discovering new envelope biogenesis factors and understanding their role will allow a broader comprehension of how bacterial cells regulate and coordinate the synthesis of the different envelope layers. Bacteria are excellent model systems to study life sciences and the outcome of this research program should have a significant impact on the fields of bacterial physiology, cellular biology, genomics, proteomics, biochemistry and molecular microbiology. This research program will also permit the identification of new bacterial vulnerabilities for the development of antibacterial agents. **