The 2021 Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers was awarded to microbiologist Yoann Santin for his work on the "vampire" bacterium, Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

The vampire bacterium: antibiotic of the future?

One of the challenges facing medicine today is to find alternatives to antibiotics to conquer the resistance that some bacteria develop. The Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus "vampire" bacteria is a good candidate because it attacks bacteria, including those that make us sick, but not humans.

It acts in several stages: after identifying its prey, it clings to it and breaks its membrane. Once inside, it devours its prey and grows into a long filament that eventually divides into several bacteria ready to hunt new prey.

Identifying the favorite prey of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

To evaluate the therapeutic potential of these bacteria, Yoann Santin will study which characteristics of their prey appeal to them. In Géraldine Laloux's laboratory at the Duve Institute, Dr. Santin will assess whether the size and characteristics of the prey’s bacterial envelope are decisive factors.

Using a new technology called RB-TnSeq, which makes it possible to construct different variants of the same prey, he will try to determine which factors promote the attack stage of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

Yoann Santin in a few words

During his PhD work under the supervision of Eric Cascales at the Macromolecular Systems Engineering Laboratory, Dr. Santin studied the assembly of the major player in competition between bacteria, the type 6 secretion system (SST6). Bacteria have developed mechanisms allowing them to eliminate competition. The SST6 system can be compared to a crossbow: the bacterium assembles a poison-tipped arrow with a spring system so that it can be shot at the prey or the competitor.

Dr. Santin adapted APEX, a technique used in other cell types, to study the bacterial crossbow’s formation. APEX allowed him to discover TagA, a key protein for defining the size and location of SST6.

While working on his master’s and PhD in Marseille, Dr. Santin taught molecular biology and genetics to undergraduate students,which turned out to be a real passion for him.

Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers

Created in 1990, the Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers is one of the first initiatives of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. Until 2021, this prize was awarded each year to 14 young doctors of science or doctors of medicine, to enable them to carry out their post-doctoral stay in the best foreign laboratories. 349 young researchers were distinguished. The prize endowment was €25,000.

All the award-winners