The Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology is supported by university and hospital-university staff, enabling it to focus on health-related issues. Research strategies benefit from expertise in cell culture, signalling, molecular biology, immunology applied to microbiology, recombinant protein production (P2R platform) and in vivo models. Its activities focus mainly on resistance issues and the discovery of new therapeutic targets.

The department of Medicinal Chemistry is involved in Drug Discovery, i.e. the design, synthesis, purification, structural elucidation and study of structure-activity relationships of original heterocyclic molecules as antifungal, antiparasitic and antibacterial drug candidates. The physicochemical and ADME-Tox properties of compounds of biological interest are also discussed in all the projects.

The Department of Bacterial Resistances studies how interactions between the host, its microbiota and drugs (particularly anti-infective drugs, but not exclusively) influence bacterial resistance to antibiotics. We are working in particular on digestive colonisation by multi-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, and are testing the possibility of treating this colonisation with live bacteria ('probiotics') or polysaccharides ('prebiotics'). We are also working on improving the use of antibiotics, with the aim of ensuring effective treatment of bacterial infections (particularly pneumonia and community-acquired urinary tract infections) while minimising the risk of emergence, persistence and spread of multi-resistant bacteria.

The scientific project is structured around three cross-disciplinary themes, which are led by pairs of researchers. The exploration of these three themes calls on the multidisciplinarity of the three departments.

The "One Health" approach is a synergistic approach based on the interaction of human, animal and environmental healthcare into a single entity: One Health. We need to improve our knowledge and enrich the current approaches developed by UR 1155 in order to explore our unit's historical models and deal with potentially emerging infections.

Antimicrobial resistance and fungal and bacterial persistence are increasing significantly worldwide and are major public health issues. Dealing with these issues requires integrated, interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the factors that determine the development of these phenomena. Based on the IICiMed laboratory's strategic plan, the Immunity, Microbiota and Persistence theme takes into account the clinical, field and therapeutic targeting data obtained by the "One Health approach to the study of persistence" and “Targets and new therapeutic approaches” themes. The main goal is to explore, in an integrated way, the links between resistance, microbiota and immunity that are associated with the human persistence of fungal pathogens and bacteria, multi- and highly resistant to antibiotics and antifungals.

Current treatments for fungal infections are limited by antifungal resistance, toxicity and drug interactions. To overcome these limitations, new targets need to be identified for the development of antifungal compounds, which could improve our therapeutic arsenal. Our work focuses on several converging strategies: Targeting the interaction between cochaperones and Hsp90 and the calmodulin/calcineurin axis, including Crz1 and FKS. Targeting the CaPkc1 protein kinase, the protein kinase C involved in MAPK pathways, which regulates cell wall integrity during growth, morphogenesis and the response to parietal stress. Deciphering resistance mechanisms that may emerge by developing a method for anticipating the emergence of resistance in Candida (CasPER, Cas9-mediated Protein Evolution Reaction). The use of new tools for addressing active ingredients (self-immolative platforms). These are also being developed to address the problem of antibacterial resistance (ESBL, BMR), particularly in bacteria colonising the intestinal microbiota. Similarly, current treatments for leishmaniasis face the same limitations as antifungal agents (resistance, toxicity) and are few in number. Our strategy is to build, with our partners (Institut Pasteur, BioCIS, Paris) in the ANR TEXLEISH project, a new line of treatments common to the different species/clinical aspects by developing inhibitors of Leishmania CK1.