Laboratory of Integrative Biology - François Renoz

Since October 2024, I am a FNRS Research Associate and professor at UCLouvain, Belgium. I head the Laboratory of Integrative Biology, which aims to understand the evolution and functioning of eukaryote-prokaryote symbiotic systems, with a focus on insects and their symbionts. Symbiosis is a general principle of eukaryotic evolution. I mainly use the diversity of aphids and their symbionts as study models, but I also explore other models such as bumblebees or the black soldier fly, and even plants. My approach is based on four pillars: 

1. Examine insect-bacteria symbioses through the prism of biodiversity (moving away from “traditional” models) to discover novelties and subtleties in the functioning and evolution of bacterial symbioses in eukaryotes;

2. Maximize the combined benefits of different levels of information (from molecular/cellular to behavioral and community dimensions) for an integrated/holistic understanding of symbiotic systems;

3. Place the parasitism-mutualism continuum at the heart of the game to take into account the malleability of these symbiotic systems;

4. Integrate the influence of environmental factors to understand: (1) the dynamics of insect-microbe symbioses on this continuum, (2) the origin of these associations and (3) the plasticity of symbiotic systems.

I also work on more applied projects aimed at characterizing the functional diversity of the microbiota of biostimulants used in agriculture with the aim of harnessing it for the biological control of insect pests.

If you are interested in symbiosis and microbial ecology and would like to run your project in the lab, feel free to contact me to find possibilities: francois.renoz@uclouvain.be.