Christophe Colleoni
University Professor – Team Co-leader
Evolutionary genomics, polysaccharides, photosynthetic symbiosis, microalgae
Christophe Colleoni is a professor at the University of Lille and co-head of the IBSP team. He obtained his PhD in microbial genetics in 1999 with work on Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, before pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at Iowa State University (2000–2003) on the structural and biochemical properties of starch in different varieties of sweet corn.
Today, his research focuses on deciphering the evolution of storage polysaccharide metabolisms (starch and glycogen) in prokaryotes and primitive eukaryotes, particularly microalgae. He also explores the molecular mechanisms of photosymbiosis between the Roscoff worm (Symsagittifera roscoffensis) and Tetraselmis sp., an emerging model for alga-animal interactions. To this end, he develops approaches combining comparative genomics, polysaccharide biology, and evolutionary modeling.