TOURTE Maxime

I have always been fascinated by Archaea from, but not exclusively, extreme habitats, the functions and structures they evolved to thrive in such environments (and often outcompete their bacterial and eukaryotic counterparts), and the origin and evolution of life on Earth. My under- (-2014) and postgraduate (2014-2017) research aimed at understanding the basics of microbiology under extreme conditions, from microbial ecology, diversity and adaptation to genetic manipulations of Archaea. My PhD (2017-) thesis project combines organic geochemistry to grasp the lipid diversity of Archaea and their adaptive functions, biophysics to comprehend how archaeal lipids organize into functional membrane, and phylogenetics to elucidate the evolution of such membrane organization. My future research horizon aims at diving even deeper into the diversity, origin and adaptive functions of archaeal envelopes and the associated macromolecular complexes.

Education & research experience

September 2017-: PhD studies in archaeal lipidomics; Department: Microbiology of Extreme Environments; Lab: Microbiology, Adaptation, Pathogeny; University of Lyon, France. 

Main topics: Archaeal membrane organization, adaptation and evolution

2016-2017: Master studies in archaeal lipidomics; Department: Microbiology of Extreme Environments; Lab: Microbiology, Adaptation, Pathogeny; University of Lyon, France. 

Main topic: Archaeal (Thermococcales) lipid diversity

2015-2016: Master studies in archaeal genetics; Department: Microbiology of Extreme Environments; Lab: Microbiology, Adaptation, Pathogeny; University of Lyon, France. 

Main topic: Archaeal natural transformation

2014-2015: Master studies in microbial diversity; Department: Food Safety, Environment, Genetics department; Lab: Matís research company; Reykjavík, Iceland.

Main topic: Microbial diversity of icelandic hydrothermal vents