Louis-David LECLERCQ, ULR 7365 – GRITA, PhD Research Engineer
- Who are you?
I am a former sales engineer who preferred to use the devices he sold. That's why I went back to university to secure PhD funding from the Hauts-de-France region. From 2019 to 2024, I studied the biological functions of glycolipids in the cell wall of Mycobacterium abscessus (Mabs)I was successively a doctoral student and then a postdoctoral researcher within the structural and functional glycobiology unit (UMR CNRS 8576). Currently in a new team, I am working on the impact of plasticizers contained in medical devices on human health at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Lille (ULR 7365 – GRITA).
- What is the context in which you used Infranalytics equipment and what type(s): NMR, EPR, FT-ICR?
Even though the prevalence of Mabs is lower than that of Mycobacterium tuberculosisThis is the most antibiotic-resistant mycobacterium. Therefore, the prognosis is particularly poor, especially for immunocompromised individuals. My team was studying a gene (MAB_4690) which fostered the virulence of Mabs in mice and zebrafish. It belonged to a locus potentially involved in the biosynthesis of glycopeptidolipids (GPLs) already found in mycobacteria. I had purified two compounds that were absent after gene deletion, and I wanted to compare their chemical structure with the predictions. in-silico.
- What did it bring you?
Using NMR, we determined not only the amino acid sequence of the peptide core but also the origin of the bonds and modifications in the glycan region. In addition, FT-ICR analysis confirmed the exact masses of the two compounds and allowed us to deduce the nature of the lipid portion, further supported by MS fragmentation experiments.n done on the PAGès platform. Thus, all that remained was to identify the stereochemistry of the amino acids. The predictions in-silico and the experimental results were consistent. To date, the identified chemical structure is specific to Mabs suggesting the possibility of more precise diagnoses to tailor treatments.
Find the study here? DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58455-5
Platforms used: CARMeN, IMEC-ISB-UCCS