Maria-Carmen Monje-Lacombe

My research activities focus on adhesion and formation of microbial biofilm. Biofilm is an association of micro-organisms in which microbial cells adhere to each other on a living or non-living surfaces within a self-produced matrix of Extracellular Polymeric Substance (EPS) such as proteins and polysaccharides. To inhibit biofilm production is really important to know the chemical composition of the EPS matrix and the adhesion mechanism. For EPS study, the objective is to establish an optimal method for EPS extraction, as a basis for quantification and characterization of the proteins and carbohydrates that composed the matrix of mono-species or multi-species biofilms.

For adhesion mechanism, the main objectives are to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for adhesion of proteins or microbial cells on different kind of « surfaces« .

The inhibition of biofilm productions is a major challenge because biofilms are involved in important complications in the biomedical domain and in the food-processing industrial sector.

Research interest: 

• Characterization of biomolecules : physico-chemical properties and structure identification
• Study of adhesion and formation of biofilm

Applications: Health, Food, and Environment

Co-Supervisor of 10 PhD Students 

Teaching activities: Teaching activities: food chemistry, food biochemistry, analytical chemistry,

Collaborators:

Equipe « Agromolécules et agroalimentaire » de l’EI Purpan   de Toulouse – INP

Laboratoire LAPLACE,  UMR 5213

Patents:

“Caractérisation d’une nouvelle substance solubilisatrice du phosphate minéral insoluble, la Viridomycine G”,  M.J Virolle (UMR* 8621), H. Hamdali (UCAM**), Y. Ouhdouch (UCAM), M. Hafidi (UCAM), Benharref (UCAM), A. Lebrihi (Toulouse-INP-ENSAT), M.C. Monje (Toulouse-INP-ENSAT), Déclaration d’invention, Mai 2010, CNRS N° 03334-01, «  New actinomycetes strain composition and its use », Application patent/ Patent N° 12738123.4-1410 (UMR 8621* : Laboratoire de Biologie et Génétique Moléculaire de l’Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, Université Paris Sud, Orsay, France) (UCAM**: Université Cadi Ayad de Marrakech, Maroc)