Cell strategy

By revealing the architecture of Toxoplasma gondii, it enables researchers to better understand how this micro-organism enters our cells, hides there and multiplies.

Because this work also tells a public health story. In the majority of carriers, this parasite remains silent. But in immunocompromised people - those living with HIV, transplant recipients or those undergoing chemotherapy - it can suddenly reactivate.

Migrating to the brain, it then causes toxoplasmic encephalitis: a severe and potentially fatal inflammation of brain tissue. In pregnant women, an initial infection can cross the placental barrier, reaching the developing fetal brain and causing severe neurological sequelae.

This is why, in many countries, screening for toxoplasmosis is systematically offered during pregnancy: to see the invisible coming... and protect the living even before birth.