Justine graduated with a Master’s degree in Infectiology from the University of Paris Saclay, a program in partnership with the University of Health Sciences in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. During her first-year internship, she joined the Malaria research unit at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge to study the impact of red blood cell polymorphism on malaria transmission. She joined the Trypanosome Cell Biology Unit at Institut Pasteur in Paris, in January 2024, completing her master’s degree by investigating the role of a basal body associated protein (BBAP1) in the assembly of Trypanosoma brucei flagellum. This project was done using molecular biology and electron microscopy techniques.
Since October 2024, she is working as a PhD student in the Trypanosome Transmission Group, directed by Brice Rotureau. She will investigate the development of Trypanosoma brucei in the salivary glands of the tsetse fly. Her project aims to determine the parasites attractivity to the fly, identify whether an infected fly can be reinfected, and to characterize how the parasites attach to the salivary glands of the insect vector. This work will be performed in collaboration with the Ultrastructural Bio-Imaging core facility, headed by Adeline Mallet. This project will elucidate the trypanosome’s development within the vector leading to the emergence of infectious parasites.