Biography
Dr Benoit Malleret received his PhD in Immunology at the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 2007 in Paris, France. During his PhD, he worked on non-human primate models, and studied the innate response of macaques to Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) infection. He subsequently moved from Paris to Singapore to take up a post-doctoral research position at the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) with Prof Laurent Rénia. The focus of his research projects include physiopathology and cell biology of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Specifically, he studied parasite cell tropism to understand the mechanism of malaria zoonosis and developed different methods to monitor antimalarial drug resistance.
In 2018, Benoit became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and his lab focuses on erythrocytic immunobiology during bacterial infections.
Main Appointment
Research Focus
Since the 1940s, antimicrobial drugs have greatly reduced illnesses and deaths caused by infectious diseases. However, the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistance bacteria, a natural occurrence caused by mutations in bacteria genes, is becoming a major public health threat. That, combined with misuse of antibiotics in medical and agricultural sectors, has exacerbated the rate of antibiotic resistance and it is set to become the leading global cause of death by 2050.
The role of the red blood cell (erythrocyte) compartment during anti-bacterial responses could be a determinant for antibiotic therapy management and a key factor in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Erythropoiesis is a complex multistep process encompassing the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells to mature erythrocytes. The research focuses on the role of the erythrocyte compartment in the bone marrow and in peripheral blood during bacterial infections. The goal of this research is to understand how red blood cells influence bacterial spreading, and the impact of cross-talk between the erythroid niche and the innate immune system on the control of bacterial infections. In addition, this research will also probe deeper into the question of how infections can affect red blood cell biology.
Lab Members
| Research Officers | PhD Students |
| Shifana Raja ABDEEN | Jing Wen HANG |