LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS, La Rochelle Université, France.
Mathieu Giraudeau
CNRS researcher - co-leader
Orsolya Vincze
Postdoctoral researcher - co-leader
Orsolya is a post-doctoral researcher and co-leader of the Widlife Cancer Evolution Research Group (WiCanE). Her research focuses on the intricate evolution of physiological systems and life histories across diverse animal species.
She is particularly interested in the immune system, oxidative physiology and mechanisms of somatic maintenance, with a keen focus on cancer resistance. She study how these physiological systems are connected to each other and how environmental and internal biological processes contribute to their variability across species, sexes and age classes. Orsolya is currently also exploring how the gut microbiome integrates with these host physiological and ageing phenotypes. In particular, she is exploring the interaction between the microbiome, immunity and cancer predisposition across the tree of life.
Stève Desaivre
Lab and project manager
Stève has an MSc in animal behavior with numerous experiences working and traveling internationally. He worked in behavioral ecology, neuroendocrinology, and neuroscience related projects involving varied species: monkeys, foxes, birds (house finches, pelicans, great tits), treefrogs, rats.
Steve has been a lab manager in the USA for 10 years (The University of Notre Dame and The University of Texas at Austin) before joining the Wildlife Cancer Evolution Research Group in 2024. Stève oversees the management and coordination of the different research projects.
Crystal MORIN
PHD student LIENSs & Beauval Nature
Crystal MORIN thesis focuses on cancer resistance and prevalences variability across wildlife, by merging data management, biology and evolutionary ecology. Using samples and data from one of the biggest zoo in Europe and its international network, her research aims at identifying new cancer prevalence predictors and/or cancer resistance mechanisms. She is also interested in the link between organs susceptibility to cancer and the species way of life (diet, reproduction, environnement…).
Louise Maille
PHD student LIENSs
Louise is a PhD student focusing on cancer resistance mechanisms in wild mammals. She has an MSc in evolutionary biology from Sorbonne University, and she currently studies the relationships between genomic features (such as genome size or gene duplications) and cancer. In parallel, Louise is exploring the responses of cell cultures from cancer-resistant animals to radiation, intending to uncover novel resistance mechanisms.
Anthony ANDRIEU
PhD student LIENSs & University of Gdańsk, Poland
Anthony is a graduate student in biology, specializing in medical biology at the University of Gdańsk in Poland. His academic journey has been marked by a dedicated focus on expanding understanding in human cancer pathophysiology and potential treatment strategies. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate at both the University of Gdansk and the University of La Rochelle, where he is engaged in a research program aimed at exploring the etiology of transmissible neoplasia in marine bivalves (BTN), with a specific emphasis on the influence of environmental factors on its progression and dissemination.
Valérie HUET
Assistant engineer LIENSs
Valérie is a Research Assistant at the LIENSs laboratory and she is associated with the WiCanE research group. She is running lab analyses for the WiCanE group and performs experiments for the marine bivalve transmissible cancer project.