Our Team
Principal investigator
Dr. habil. Nicolas Personnic (PhD; HDR) - Group Leader - CNRS
Bio: At the Institut Pasteur (PhD thesis, Prof. Cossart’s lab), the Biozentrum of Basel (PostDoc, Prof. Bumann’s lab) and the Institute for Medical Microbiology of Zürich (SNF sponsored junior group leader), I have studied: (i) the pathogen single-cell dynamics and antibiotic persistence, (ii) the bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity & multicellularity, (iii) the host-pathogen interactions.
Languages: French - English - Spanish - German
scientific staff
Permanent Staff
Dr. Adrien Ducret (PhD) CNRS MicrobiologistBio: Microbiologist specializing in bacterial cell physiology and morphogenesis, I combine real-time microscopy and advanced image analysis to decode the molecular and biophysical mechanisms underlying dynamic cellular behaviors. I have studied multiple aspects of bacterial physiology in Legionella pneumophila (PhD, LCB-Marseille), Myxococcus xanthus (Post-doc, LCB-Marseille), Caulobacter crescentus (Post-doc, Indiana University-Bloomington USA), and Streptococcus pneumoniae (CR-CN, MMSB-Lyon). Recruited by the CNRS in 2016, I joined the PERSIST team in 2026 to investigate the molecular bases of the morphological heterogeneity in L. pneumophila.
Languages: French - English
Mail: adrien.ducret@cnrs.fr
Dr. habil. Didier Blaha (PhD; HDR) Assistant Professor - University Lyon 1
Bio: I am a Microbial ecologist with expertise in bacterial phenotypic variation, antibiotic resistance, and pathogen detection in urban environments. Formerly worked on Azospirillum, E. coli, Francisella, and Nocardia. Assistant Professor at the University of Lyon 1 since 2007. In 2022, I joined the team Persit to investigate the molecular bases of bacterial multicellularity.
Languages: French - English
FIXED-TERM Staff
Iris Dadole, Msc. E2M2 PhD student (2022 - present) - University Lyon 1
Bio: Microbiology PhD student with a background in host–pathogen interactions. Previously worked on E. coli and anaerobic communities. I hold a BUT as well as a Master’s in microbiology and I secured a competitive PhD fellowship to investigate the intracellular persister biology.
Languages: French - English
Webpages: LinkedIn - ORCID
Valentin Sanhard, Msc. E2M2 PhD student (2024 - present) - Ecole Normale Supérieure & University Lyon 1
Bio: PhD student in microbiology with international training. I hold a Master’s in microbiology. After research internships at CIRI, Karolinska Institutet, and Institut Pasteur, I secured a competitive Ecole Normale Supérieure PhD fellowship and joined the PERSIST team to study single-cell bacterial dynamics in innovative infection models.
Languages: English
Webpages: LinkedIn
Romain Gory, Msc. E2M2 PhD student (2025-present) - University Lyon 1
Bio: PhD student in microbiology with an interest in microbial ecology. I hold a BUT as well as a Master’s in microbiology. I joined the PERSIST team to develop novel approaches to investigate intracellular pathogen phenotypic variations.
Languages: French - English
Mail: romain.gory@inserm.fr
Webpages: LinkedIn
Trainees
Pauline Ferreira Master student
Alumni
Benoît Morin (Msc.) Master student (2025)
Alexandre Ahmed (Msc.) Master student (2025)
Dr. Kevin Huguet (Ph. D.) Post doctoral researcher (2022 - 2024) - UCBL
Current position: Tenured Lecturer/Researcher at the University of Lorraine
Dr. Mathis Larrieu (Msc.) PhD student (2021 - 2024) - UCBL
Current position: Permanent researcher at Danone
Souparnika Sabu Thayyil (Msc) Master thesis student (2023-2024) - IISER Tirupati
Current position: N/A
Margaux Dolivet Internship (2023)
Current position: Assistant produc manager at Chouffe
Charline Decarvalho. Internship (2023)
Current position: Technician Hospice Civil of Lyon (HCL)
Clara Labbaci. Internship (2022)
Current position: Project Coordinator at Sanofi
Dr. Bianca Striednig (PhD) PhD student (2017 - 2021; Junior Group at the University of Zürich)
Current position: Biological safety expert at Oertli instrumente
Dr. Selina Niggli (PhD) (2016; Junior Group at the University of Zürich)
Current position: Scientific collaborator Swiss National Found