Our laboratory is interested in cellular mechanisms of leukocyte migration and trafficking within the organism. These processes underlie the immune response, since leukocyte recruitment from various locations in the body to a localized site of inflammation is a prerequisite to the elimination of foreign invaders. Thus, leukocytes are inherently motile cells which navigate through a broad spectrum of extracellular environments. Our group investigates the mechanisms that sustain the fast migration of leukocytes in such confined microenvironments and explore their regulation during the orchestration of an immune response. We use a combination of cutting-edge techniques with a particular emphasis on quantitative analysis of cell migration and organelles dynamics in controlled microenvironments.

Our team has had a long-term interest in the acto-myosin cytoskeleton dynamics that drives leukocyte migration. We aim to understand how different components of the cell cytoskeleton regulate discrete steps of 3D migration. Taking advantage of LifeAct-GFP and MyoII-GFP mice, we dissect the contribution of different cytoskeleton components to migration in microenvironments of growing complexity. This is the main expertise of the lab, developed over more than 15 years of intense research.