Investigators
Christine Coustau (PI, CR1 CNRS - Christine.Coustau@sophia.inra.fr)
Olga Lucia Baron (PhD student)
Alvaro Baeza Garcia (PhD student)
Nadège Debreuck (technician)
Post-doctoral fellow to be hired

“Interactions biotiques et santé végétale”, UMR 6243 INRA-CNRS-UNSA
400 Route des Chappes, 06 903 Sophia Antipolis. FRANC

Project description
Our long term goal is to better understand immunobiological interactions between Biomphalaria glabrata and several pathogens including Schistosoma mansoni.

The specific aims of our current project are to:
1- To analyse the specificity of B. glabrata immune response .
2- To investigate immune regulation through the functional analysis of two putative cytokines.
3- To assess the sustainability and specificity of immune priming.
Underlying molecular processes will be investigated using comparative transcriptomic approaches
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This is a collaborative project involving Jean-Marc Reichhart (IBMC, Strasbourg) and André Theron (CBETM, Perpignan). This project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through Dec. 2010.

This research is designed in consultation with other investigators working with Biomphalaria, to maximize its impact for future genome-type projects .