Dr Brice Rotureau

  • Research Director at Institut Pasteur
  • Location: Room C222, BHF & Zoom
  • Passcode: 906488

Title: New insights into the biology of dermal trypanosomes

Synopsis:

Trypanosoma brucei is transmitted to the mammalian host by the bite of the tsetse fly vector during a blood meal. The fly deposits infective metacyclic parasites into the skin dermis, from there, the parasites either enter the vascular and lymphatic system or proliferate at the bite site. In the blood, the parasites exist as dividing forms and cell cycle-arrested forms that are adapted to establish infection in the fly during a subsequent blood meal. Experimental infections in animal models and field studies in humans have shown that T. brucei maintains a large population in the extravascular dermis that remain transmissible to tsetse flies. To characterise the adaptations of dermal trypanosomes, we developed an in-house vascularized skin-on-chip (SoC) model within a microfluidic chamber. In parallel, we investigated the epidemiological importance of skin-dwelling trypanosomes in endemic areas where Human African Trypanosomiasis is targeted for elimination by 2030. Both approaches emphasize the skin as a significant anatomical reservoir for these parasites.

Bio: 

After obtaining a PhD on the eco-epidemiology of leishmaniases in Amazonia at the Faculty of Medicine in Cayenne (French Guiana) in 2004, Brice Rotureau worked as an epidemiologist at the Tropical and International Department of the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Santé Publique France). In 2007, he joined the Trypanosome Cell Biology Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris as a post-doc to study the development of African trypanosomes in the tsetse fly. He set up an insectarium to maintain and infect tsetse flies and investigated trypanosome development in the insect, especially trypanosome metacyclogenesis. In 2011, he obtained a permanent position at Institut Pasteur where he’s now heading the Trypanosome Transmission Group. He is currently studying the biology of extravascular trypanosomes in the mammalian host by several dynamic imaging approaches in vivo and in a new skin-on-chip microfluidic model. Together with colleagues from the University of Glasgow, his group has identified the skin as a major, yet overlooked, anatomical reservoir for African trypanosomes. Since 2020, Brice Rotureau is also heading the Parasitology Unit at the Institut Pasteur of Guinea, where his team is investigating the epidemiological importance of skin-dwelling parasites in the field, and developing new CRISPR-based diagnostic tools for neglected tropical diseases.

First published: 6 January 2026

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