Nathalie ArhelInstitut de recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier (IRIM) - CNRS / Université de Montpellier
Mes recherches
After a PhD in the field of cancer biology and apoptosis (University of Bristol, UK), I joined the group of Dr. Pierre Charneau (Pasteur Institute, Paris) to work on mechanisms of viral trafficking into the nucleus, for a 5 years post-doc. Wishing to incorporate immunology into my understanding of infectious diseases, I joined the group of Prof. Dr. Frank Kirchhoff (University of Ulm, Germany) for 3 years, during which I examined the effect of viruses on the immunological synapse with sentinel cells of innate immunity. After these two enriching and rewarding post-doctoral experiences, I was recruited by the CNRS as a tenured researcher in 2009 and obtained an ATIP-Avenir grant to set up my own research team in 2011. My aim was to move towards projects that create new research interfaces with clinicians, therefore I joined the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris in the research unit of Prof. Dr. François Clavel. The ATIP-Avenir program allowed me to pursue high-risk projects that sought to explore how virus and host interact at the level of the nuclear pore complex. These were formative years for me, and I learned a lot in terms of project and team management, and going beyond my comfort zone. In 2017, I was recruited as a senior team leader by the CNRS IRIM research institute in Montpellier following a competitive international call, for which I obtained additionally a 3-year installation grant from the cluster of excellence EpiGenMed. Since then, my research focuses on strategies of viral infection and mechanisms innate immune signaling in target cells.
Mon projet ATIP-Avenir
Host-virus interactions at the nuclear pore
Viruses responsible for some of the most pre-occupying diseases worldwide (Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Influenza) only replicate in the nucleus and have evolved the necessary mechanisms to pass through the nuclear pore. For many, it remains entirely unknown how the viral genome reaches the nuclear pore, how it translocates through it, and reaches its site of replication after translocation. Furthermore, the complexity of nuclear pores, their dynamics in dividing cells and the sub-resolution size of viruses implies that such questions can only be satisfactorily addressed by pioneering and custom-designed techniques. This ATIP-Avenir project seeks first and foremost to acquire a better understanding of how HIV interacts with and usurps the cellular machinery for passage through the nuclear pore: how the virus reaches the nuclear pore, the mechanisms involved in passage into the nucleus, exit from the nuclear basket, and nuclear entry during mitosis.