Our team

Scientific lead

• Bertrand Cosson, scientific director of iPOP-UP since October 2024. He is a professor of molecular biology at Paris Cité University, with expertise focused on gene expression regulation and bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput sequencing data. His research combines molecular biology and bioinformatics to explore post-transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, particularly mRNA stability and translation in various biological contexts. Alongside his research activities, Bertrand Cosson directs the University Diploma in “Creation, Analysis, and Valorization of Omics Biological Data” at the UFR Sciences du Vivant, where he emphasizes the application of bioinformatics tools to address biological issues. He actively contributes to the academic community by developing scientific and educational exchanges with European universities and promoting bioinformatics as a lever for research in biology.

Support scientist

• Emeline Bruyère, bioinformatics Research Engineer at Université Paris Cité since December 2025. She holds a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, as well as a dual Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Life Sciences from Université Paris-Saclay. Her expertise lies at the interface of computer science, mathematics, and biology. Her skill set includes omics data analysis, the development and optimization of NGS data pipelines, statistical analyses, and database design, with a strong focus on robustness, reproducibility, and FAIR principles. Within iPOP-UP, she supports biologists in using the computing cluster and in adopting best practices in bioinformatics. She also contributes to the development of the platform’s resources, in particular through updates to the website and tutorials, with the aim of facilitating tool adoption by users and enhancing the quality of the services provided.

RPBS platform

• Nicolas Chevrollier is an Inserm Research Engineer in bioinformatics at Université Paris Cité, based in the BFA (Functional and Adaptive Biology) laboratory, ERL INSERM 1133, within the TPM2PI team (Therapeutic Peptides: Modulation of Protein-Protein Interactions). His doctoral research focused on developing innovative docking methods for studying protein-RNA interactions, allowing him to acquire a solid expertise in structural bioinformatics, molecular modeling, and biological data analysis. Throughout his career, he has developed extensive skills in programming (Python, R, C, Bash), scientific computing, and bioinformatics project management. He further strengthened his expertise in software engineering and web application development at Orphanet, where he participated in designing, deploying, and maintaining several services for the scientific and medical communities. In parallel, he has contributed to multiple bioinformatics research projects, notably including the development of the ORFmine and SURFMAP tools.
• Julien Rey is a Research Engineer in bioinformatics at Université Paris Cité, based in the BFA (Functional and Adaptive Biology) laboratory, ERL INSERM 1133, within the TPM2PI team (Therapeutic Peptides: Modulation of Protein-Protein Interactions). He is the Technical Manager of the Ressource Parisienne en Bio-informatique Structurale (RPBS) platform  – an IBiSA-certified platform and member of the French Institute of Bioinformatics (IFB) which he co-coordinates. In this role, he is responsible for computing resource administration, the design, development, and deployment of web tools, as well as the development and deployment of structural bioinformatics and chemoinformatics services. He is also involved in database development and serves as the platform’s IFB representative. Finally, he is engaged in training and education, lecturing in bioinformatics and computational biology courses, and organizing and leading training sessions within the RPBS platform.

Steering Committee

The major decisions of iPOP-UP are made by its Steering Committee, which is largely composed of the heads of the founding and supporting Structures.

• Valérie Doye is the Director of the Institut Jacques Monod. A CNRS research director, she also leads the “Non-Conventional Functions of Nuclear Pores” team, studying the role of nucleoporins in intracellular transport, cell division, and gene regulation. After completing her PhD on neuronal differentiation (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 1991) and a postdoc in Heidelberg, she joined the CNRS in 1994. Recognized for her groundbreaking work, she was awarded the CNRS Silver Medal in 2009. At the Institut Jacques Monod since 2008, she uses models like stem cells and organoids to investigate how nucleoporin anomalies are linked to hereditary diseases.
• Franck Letourneur, a molecular biologist at Université Paris Cité, is a research engineer and manager of the GENOM’IC platform at the Institut Cochin (INSERM U1016). This IBiSA-labeled facility specializes in transcriptome analyses using next-generation sequencing methods, producing and processing data.
• Valérie Mezger is a CNRS research director and head of UMR 7216 “Epigenetics and Cell Fate” at Université Paris Cité. She completed her PhD in 1991 at Université Paris-Sud, focusing on thermal stress response and its effects on gene regulation, followed by a postdoc at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Harvard Medical School), where she specialized in the molecular mechanisms of gene expression regulation in response to stress. Since then, her work has focused on epigenetic mechanisms and their role in cellular plasticity, differentiation, and certain human pathologies. As head of UMR 7216, she coordinates multidisciplinary research combining molecular biology, epigenetics, and integrative modeling to better understand how environmental signals influence cellular identity. Under her leadership, the unit has consolidated its international reputation through high-level collaborations and innovative approaches.
• Pierre Tufféry, Director of Research at INSERM, leads the Computational Modeling of Protein-Ligand Interactions team in the Functional and Adaptive Biology unit (BFA). His research focuses on protein-peptide interactions and peptide design. He is also the founder of the RPBS platform, which he directed from 2004 to 2021.

Technical Committee

• Yves Clément (Institut Jacques Monod, Université Paris Cité) is an assistant professor in the “Stem Cells, Development, and Evolution” team, focusing on comparative genomics and functional genomics to study regeneration variability among animals. He also teaches biostatistics and the analysis of large omics datasets.
• Magali Hennion (Université Paris Cité), CNRS research engineer and head of the BiBs platform, supports bioinformatics and biostatistics for the Epigenetics and Cell Fate unit. She specializes in high-throughput sequencing data analysis and develops tools to ensure reproducible and accessible analyses.
• Olivier Kirsh is a lecturer at Université Paris Cité. He teaches various subjects ranging from biostatistics to biology and molecular pathophysiology, as well as functional genomics and bioinformatics. He also teaches continuing education courses (Roscoff School of Bioinformatics and INSERM workshop, Cancéropole Ile de France, University Diploma in Integrative Bioinformatics). Within the “Epigenetics and Cellular Destiny” unit (UMR 7216), he divides his time between P.A. Defossez’s team and the bioinformatics & biostatistics platform (BiB). He develops and optimizes tools and methods for analyzing omics data on high-performance computing clusters, which are necessary for research projects in epigenomics (DNA methylation) and gene expression regulation.
• Julien Rey
• Benjamin Saintpierre (Université Paris Cité) is a bioinformatician at the GENOM’IC platform at the Institut Cochin. He is responsible for the bioinformatics analysis of the platform’s RNA-Seq and scRNA-Seq projects, from alignment to statistical analysis, including clustering. He also provides bioinformatics support in understanding the latest published techniques and data publication, and supervises several bioinformatics students. He is also responsible for the bioinformatics hub at the Institut Cochin.