The skills required to successfully complete this project are numerous:
-Mastery molecular biology techniques (PCR, cloning, transformation, construction of deletion mutants)
-Expertise in protein biochemistry (production, purification and biochemical characterization of recombinant proteins)
-Trait proteomic data
-Mastering the growth of mycobacteria
-Know how to culture and infect eukaryotic cells
-Work in complete autonomy
-Ability to formulate the results obtained and write articles in English

M. tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), has the ability to store triglycerides (TAG) in the form of Intracytoplasmic Lipid Inclusions (ILI) within foamy macrophages or in caseous center during granuloma formation. Once gorged with lipids, the bacillus may persist in dormancy phase, allowing latent TB to develop. When tuberculosis reactivation occurs, degradation of the stored TAGs facilitates the spread of the bacillus throughout the body. Using genetic, biochemical, proteomic, microbiological and cellular approaches, Delirious will identify the mycobacterial proteomes involved in the ILI degradation and study their impact on virulence using M. abscessus as model. This original project will provide unprecedented information on the life cycle of pathogenic mycobacteria, providing inspiration for innovative therapeutic strategies to combat mycobacterial related diseases.