Fabrice Wattebled
Associate Professor
Starch genetics, CRISPR, plant metabolism, pedagogy
Fabrice Wattebled studies the mechanisms of starch synthesis, with a particular focus on the grain initiation step.
After completing a doctoral thesis on the model species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (1998–2002), he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship on Arabidopsis thaliana, during which he utilized reverse genetics approaches made possible by the availability of mutant banks.
In 2005, he was recruited as a research scientist at INRA Angers, where he initiated work on apple texture quality.
In 2007, he joined the University of Lille as a Lecturer to resume his research on starch. There, he deepened his studies on Arabidopsis thaliana, then expanded his work to the potato model, comparing the mechanisms of starch synthesis initiation between photosynthetic organs (leaves) and storage organs (tubers).
In parallel with his research activities, he teaches virology, genetics, and microbiology at all undergraduate levels, and served as director of the Diplôme Universitaire Tremplin Biologie (2020–2024).