FEMS Journal publications | EAM

Prof Tâm Mignot completed his PhD thesis at the Pasteur Institute, France (1998-2002) working on the structure of the Bacillus anthracis cell surface. He then joined Prof David Zusman’s laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley from 2002-2006 where he developed the first cell biology tools to study the motility mechanism of Myxocococus at the single cell level. In doing so, the research group found that cells change direction by inverting their polarity and move by assembling a new type of motility complex that resembles eukaryotic focal adhesion complexes.

In 2007,  Tâm subsequently obtained a CNRS position at the Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, France to start a laboratory and follow up on this work. Specifically, his laboratory aimed to elucidate the molecular basis of Myxocococus motility and its regulation. Over the 10 years since Tâm’s laboratory was set up, his research group has identified the motility complex for the first time and linked its regulation to a chemosensory apparatus and bacterial Ras-like GTPase. They are now proceeding to study how these mechanisms apply when cells move in large social groups and predate other organisms.

In 2018, Tâm became the director of the Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, a CNRS research unit of 12 research groups all sharing an interest in basic and applied projects in bacteriology.