Translational Research - Université de Genève

Host Response
Pierre Cosson
Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism
Pierre Cosson obtained his PhD in Immunology at the University of Marseille (1990). He spent
two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA, and
then joined the Basel Institute of Immunology (Basel, CH) as an independent researcher. He
was awarded an Swiss National Science Foundation START Fellowship in 1997 and joined the
Geneva Faculty of Medicine, where he was later appointed Associate Professor (2002) and full
Professor (2009) at the Departement of Cell Physiology and Metabolism. Since 2009, Pierre
Cosson has held the Doerenkamp- Naef-Zbinden Chair for the development of alternatives to
animal experiments.
Dictyostelium amoebae: a model to study host-pathogen interactions
Our group makes use of Dictyostelium amoebae as a model to study interactions between
phagocytic cells and bacteria. This genetically tractable model allows us to study cellular
mechanisms such as cell adhesion, phagocytosis and intracellular killing. Bacterial
pathogenicity mechanisms can also be studied advantageously using this simple model.
60 Université de Genève • Faculté de médecine
Le Coadic M, Simon M, Marchetti A, Ebert D, Cosson P (2012) Daphnia magna, a host to evaluate
bacterial virulence. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 78:593-5.
Lelong E, Marchetti A, Simon M, Burns JL, van Delden C, Köhler T, Cosson P (2011) Evolution of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence in infected patients revealed in a Dictyostelium
discoideum host model. Clin. Microb. Infect. 17:1415-20.
Lelong E, Marchetti A, Guého A, Lima WC, Sattler N, Molmeret M, Hagedorn M, Soldati T, Cosson
P (2010) Role of magnesium and a phagosomal P-type ATPase in intracellular bacterial
killing. Cell. Microb. 13:246-58.
Froquet R, Lelong E, Marchetti A, Cosson P (2009) Dictyostelium discoideum: a model host to
measure bacterial virulence. Nature Protocols. 4:25-30.
Alibaud L, Köhler T, Coudray A, Prigent-Combaret C, Bergeret E, Perrin J, Benghezal M, Reimmann
C, Gauthier Y, van Delden C, Attree I, Fauvarque MO, Cosson P (2008) Pseudomonas
aeruginosa virulence genes identified in a Dictyostelium host model. Cell. Microb. 10:729-40.
BenghezalM, Fauvarque MO, Tournebize R, Froquet R, Marchetti A, Bergeret E, Lardy B, Klein G,
Sansonetti P, Charette SJ, Cosson P (2006) Specific host genes required for the killing of
Klebsiella bacteria by phagocytes. Cell. Microb. 8:139-48.
Contact: Pierre.Cosson@unige.ch
A Dictyostelium amoeba (white and green) ingesting
a bacterium (red). The amoeba is trying to kill
the bacteria, the bacteria is trying to kill the amoeba.
Who is going to win?
Host Response
Université de Genève • Faculté de médecine
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