Host-Pathogen-Environment Interactions research unit

The goals of the Host-Pathogen-Environment (Interaction Hôtes Pathogènes Environnements — IHPE) research unit aims to describe the mechanisms that govern the interactions between marine invertebrates (mainly the Pacific oyster, Crassostreagigas), their pathogens and the environment, and also to characterise the physiological and adaptive responses of oysters and their pathogens to environmental pressures.

Organisation

The staff at the IHPE research unit are part of the Joint Research Unit Interactions Hôtes — Pathogènes — Environnements (UMR 5244 IHPE). This UMR staffed by researchers, technicians and students from IFREMER, CNRS, the University of Perpignan Via Domitia and the University of Montpellier aims to study various biological systems that interact (diseases affecting marine invertebrates, human parasitic diseases). The IFREMER staff belong to the “Mechanisms of interaction and adaptation in the marine environment” group (Mécanismes d’interaction et d’adaptation en milieu marin) of UMR 5244 which is located on the University of Montpellier campus.

Research

The research unit develops integrative approaches to the study of host-pathogen interactions by considering many influential environmental parameters at various scales (from molecular mechanisms to evolutionary processes). This research is at the crossroads between functional biology and population biology, ecology and evolution. The unit has expertise in environmental genomics, ecology, bioinformatics and epigenetics.

The technical, human and laboratory resources at the unit makes it possible to analyse large (meta)genomic and transcriptomic datasets on hosts and their microorganisms or pathogens simultaneously to study their interactions in their globality, under controlled conditions or in natural populations.