Nicole Hugouvieux-cotte-pattat PhD

Nicole Hugouvieux-Cotte-Pattat got a PhD in microbiology in 1981, delivered by INSA-Lyon and Lyon 1 University, on the Escherichia coli metabolic pathways used for hexuronate degradation. In 1982, she obtained a permanent researcher position at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France). She studied the different pectinases involved in the degradation of pectin by the plant pathogenic bacterium Dickeya dadantii (called at the time Erwinia chrysanthemi).

Nicole obtained the research habilitation in 1987 and she had a post-doctoral position at the University of Geneva in 1988-1989, to study the expression of genes of the TOL catabolic plasmid of Pseudomonas putida. Since 1994, she supervised her team studying the virulence functions of the plant pathogenic bacterium Dickeya dadantii. She explored the D. dadantii genes involved in virulence, the regulation of their expression, and the metabolic pathways necessary for the assimilation of plant compounds. From 1995 to 2005, she was the deputy director of the laboratory Microbiology and Genetics.

In 2005, Nicole created the laboratory Microbiology, Adaptation, and Pathogenesis (MAP, UMR5240) supported by CNRS, INSA, and Lyon 1 University. She directed this laboratory until 2015. From 2016 to 2020, she headed a molecular biology platform at Lyon University. She developed genomic approaches to investigate the diversity of the Dickeya genus by analyzing poorly strains from old collections and carrying out surveys of Dickeya strains present in the environment, particularly in lake water.