Benoit Cournoyer

Biography

CV - Benoit Cournoyer
Research Director (DR) at the CNRS
Research group leader (group entitled : "Bacterial Opportunistic Pathogens and Environment")
Address: Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Ecologie Microbienne, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France

Research interests
Global Health, microbial ecology, ecology and evolution of bacterial opportunistic pathogens, ecological genomics, bacterial genetics and physiology, bacterial detoxifying processes, virulence, antibiotic resistances, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, bacterial populations, microbiomes, watershed microbiology, urban microbiology.

Profile of the research group
(two professors, three lecturers, and two senior research scientists; seven research assistants (IE), two technicians; four post-docs, and three PhD students; n=23 - in 2020)
Research activities are dedicated to the understanding of the ecology of opportunistic bacterial pathogens, and of their evolutionary patterns among various systems. An originality of our group is the ability at integrating social (urbanization patterns, behaviors) and environmental issues in the understanding of the factors and forces leading to opportunistic infections and epidemic outbreaks. The notions of invasiveness and expology are investigated, with a particular emphasis on the impact of biotopes (physico-chemical components, structure, etc) and their related microbiota on the fate of bacterial opportunistic pathogens (BOP) and their virulence. The incidence of environmental filters including chemical pollutants on the dissemination of BOP and their ability at colonizing certain individuals (e. g. people with cystic fibrosis, children and elderly) are investigated.
- group was ranked as “excellent” by the French evaluation agency of research units – 2020 report

Academic positions
2010 to 2015: Adjunct-director of Lyon Institute of Microbial Ecology (UMR Ecologie Microbienne Lyon - LEM) (140 people)
2014+: co-coordinator of the "Eco-resources" plateform of the research federation BioEnviS of University Lyon 1
2007+: Research Director (DR) at the CNRS – position held at Lyon Institute of Microbial Ecology (UMR LEM)
2006-2010: Head of the «Environmental Microbiology» section of the Research Cluster of Rhône-Alpes Region
2005+: Research group leader
2005+: Head of a biological resource center named EML-BRC (www.eml-brc.org/‎), and of a technical platform dedicated to the analysis of microbial resources (acronym = PARMIC)
1996-2007: Chargé de recherche (CR) at the CNRS – position held at Lyon Institute of Microbial Ecology (UMR LEM)
1996: Chargé de recherche associé (CR) at the CNRS – position held at University Clermont Auvergne

Other positions / activities
2005+: Coordinator of national and international research projects including projects funded by ANR, Rhône-Alpes Region, and CNRS research programs
- Research group is part of the excellence networks dedicated to Urban Worlds (https://imu.universite-lyon.fr/; and https://ecoleurbainedelyon.universite-lyon.fr/) , and Watershed Sciences (h2olyon.universite-lyon.fr/)
- Member of French Research agency evaluation committees: ANR MIE & ANR CES, and tox-ecotox section
- Group is part of the FINOVI RTRA – Advanced research network in infectiology
- Group is part of OTHU (Urban waters) LTER (long term experimental research platform), and head of an OTHU experimental site (Chaudanne River – Rhône department, France)
- President of an ANSES Working group – risk assessment related to «bathing in semi-natural water environments»
- Member of the board of directors of GIS Zone Atelier Bassin du Rhône (ZABR - long term experimental research platform) (http://www.graie.org/zabr) (from 2013)
- Member of scientific advisory boards for national research programmes – Environmental Health / ANSES (2009-2014), Legionella AFSSET programme (2005-2007), AIRD avian flux programme (2007)
- Member of follow-up committees for ANSES national research projects in Environmental Health (2009-2013), and for ANR CESA national research projects in Ecotoxicology and Environmental health (2012)