Madeleine's research interest is in chemical biology and she is currently a postdoc at Christian Hedberg lab, investigating synthetic pathways to dissect infection mechanisms of pathogens.
Madeleine obtained her PhD in organic chemistry from Rouen University, France where she developed new photo-activated probes for the fluorescent labeling of biological targets. Since then, she has become increasingly interested in organic synthesis applied to the development of tools for understanding biological processes.
Her first postdoctoral experience was at the CHEMFORASE start-up in Rouen, France where she worked on the design and synthesis of pro-fluorescent molecules for the detection of neurotoxic agents.
She then joined Christian Hedberg lab in Umeå, Sweden, where her research focuses on investigating post-translational modifications of host-pathogen involved in infection mechanisms. During bacterial infections, the pathogen secretes enzymes (e.g., Fic enzymes) that alter the host cell’s defense systems through post-translational modifications of various targets. Her research project aims to identify the host proteins targeted by these bacterial enzymes. To this end, Madeleine is developing synthetic pathways to access nucleotide derivatives required for the identification of Fic enzyme targets.