Current Lab Members
Principal Investigator (PI)
Sébastien Campagne, PhD
Sébastien Campagne, born in Foix, France in 1983, received his education in biochemistry and biotechnologies at the University of Toulouse. He earned his PhD from the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology, where he was mentored by Prof. Alain Milon and Dr. Virginie Gervais, in 2010. Following a postdoctoral research with Prof. Julia Vorholt at ETH Zürich in 2014, he joined the Institute of Biochemistry at ETH Zurich, working closely with major pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and Skyhawk Therapeutics under the guidance of Prof. Frédéric Allain. As of October 2021, he holds the position of INSERM Researcher at the ARNA unit in Bordeaux and in 2023, he was appointed as a group leader at the European Institute of Chemistry and Biology in Bordeaux.
Post-doctoral fellows
Florian Malard, PhD
Florian Malard is a post-doctoral researcher who joined the group on March 1st, 2022. Prior to starting his PhD, he spent one year at ETH Zürich working on RNA splicing. He earned his PhD from University Paris-Saclay where he studied protein-protein interactions in cancer using nuclear magnetic resonance and other biophysical methods. Prior to his current position, he completed a successful post-doctoral experience at the Medical College of Wisconsin where he created bioinformatic resources for protein O-GlcNAcylation and artificial neural networks. Currently, his focus is on pioneering innovative RNA therapies aimed at targeting splicing factors in Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
PhD candidates
Léa Bouton, MSc
Léa Bouton is a PhD student who joined the group on March 1st, 2023. She earned her international Master's degree in Cancer Biology from Bordeaux in 2021. Before her current position, Léa completed a Master's internship at the Bordeaux Institute of Oncology (BRIC), where she focused her research on enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy in treating pancreatic cancer by inhibiting proprotein convertases. Additionally, she served as an assistant engineer at the BRIC, where she conducted extensive research on the behavior of cancer cells after micro-injection into zebrafish models. Currently, Léa is working on developing innovative RNA therapies in the context of cancer.
Giulia Chiarazzo, MSc
Giulia Chiarazzo is a PhD student who joined the group on September 1st, 2024. She earned her Master's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Bari in 2022, with a thesis focused on the role of circular RNA in cancer. After her graduation, she moved to the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), where she focused her research fellowship on the characterization of a cellular model for Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency. Currently, Giulia is working on small molecule splicing modifiers.
Laetitia Varajao, MSc
Laetitia Varajao is a PhD student who is shared between our group and the group of Dr. Gilles Guichard since January 1st, 2024. She obtained her Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux in 2023. Before starting her PhD, Laetitia completed her Master’s internship at the European Institute of Chemistry and Biology (IECB) in Bordeaux, where, inspired by the CAPA assay developed by J. Kritzer, she optimized this method to evaluate and quantify the ability of synthetic therapeutic peptides (synthesized by herself) to enter cancer cell lines. Currently, Laetitia is working on the design and synthesis of a proteomimetic targeting the transcription factor c-Fos/c-Jun in the context of cancer therapy.
Jean-Roch Savoy, MSc
Jean-Roch SAVOY is a PhD student who joined the group on October 1st, 2025. He initially graduated in chemical and biological engineering at the ENSCBP (now ENSMAC) in 2016, then studied finance and management at EDHEC in 2017, and worked in consulting and food retail industry for a few years. Really eager to pursue in the scientific field, he obtained a Master's degree in RNA biochemistry and genetics at Sorbonne Université in 2025. Before his current position, Jean-Roch completed his Master's internship at Institut Pasteur, where he worked on the controlled expression of T. brucei's variant surface glycoproteins to enable CITE-seq applications. Currently, Jean-Roch is working on the rational development of small molecules as splicing modifiers.
Engineers
Sabrina Rousseau, MSc
Sabrina Rousseau is an engineer who joined the group in November 2024. After successfully completing a technician degree in Biological Analysis at Lycée St Louis in Bordeaux, she earned a MSc in Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of Brest. She then spent several years in marine research, studying the stress response and adaptation of bivalves in polluted environments. In November 2007, she was recruited as an engineer staff member at IECB. Eight years later, in 2015, she returned to research, taking an engineer position in the ARNA unit. There, she served as a lab manager and worked on protein purification and molecular modifications of IDPs.
Former Lab Members
Maylis Bigas, MSc
Maylis Bigas was a Master 2 student who joined the group in the end of March 2025. She obtained her master degree in the chemistry engineering school ENSMAC (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Matériaux d’Agroalimentaire et de Chimie) in Bordeaux. In her last year, she specialized in Chemistry and Bio-enginnering. She did a 5-month internship in 2023 at the University of Thessaloniki in Greece on organic chemistry and drug design to treat Alzheimer Disease in the team of D. Hadjipavlou-Litina. In 2024, she did a 5-month internship at the ISM in Bordeaux under the supervision of N. McClenaghan, focusing on the synthesis of photoclivable dye to be encapsulated in polymersomes for drug delivery in the brain. She did another 5-month internship in 2024 in the industry Catalent in Limoges in the Analytical Transfer team, she focused on the optimization of analytical methods and documentation. She joined the SMaRT team for her M2 internship to evaluate the effect of small molecules on RNA splicing, this experience allows her to add more competences in biology. She is also going to the ICGM institute in Montpellier to do organic chemistry experiments with Jean-Marc Campagne for the Epicor project.
Jerome Innocent, MSc
Jérôme Innocent was a Master 2 student who joined the group in January 2025 for six months. His master's program is called COVAN and is part of the chemistry sector at the University of Bordeaux, specializing in organic chemistry and nanosciences. In 2024, he had the opportunity to work in the biological field with team 3Bio, led by M-C Durrieu at the CBMN, during a two-month internship. This internship focused on the synthesis of a molecular probe for studying the differentiation of stem cells into bone cells in the presence of zinc. He chose to continue in the biological field for his final master’s internship, and the topic of using small molecules to interact with RNA for therapeutic purposes, proposed by the SMaRT team, offered him a great opportunity to expand his knowledge in biochemistry.
Agathe Ecoutin, MSc
Agathe Ecoutin was an engineering assistant who joined our group in April 2023. She earned a master's degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Bordeaux. During her master thesis, Agathe worked on protein-protein interactions and she used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to characterize and identify the binding site of a specific binder for a PDZ protein located in the postsynaptic density. Currently, Agathe is working on studying the interaction of small molecules with the spliceosome, with the goal of elucidating their mode of action in modulating RNA splicing.
Livia Casian, MSc
Livia Casian was a Master 2 student who joined the group from January to July 2023, during her master 2 internship coordinated by Sebastien Campagne. She previously studied nursing in the Republic of Moldova, but her passion for science led her to pursue a degree in "Molecular Cell Biology and Physiology" at the University of Bretagne Occidentale and later "Molecular and Cellular Genetics" at the University of Bordeaux in France. During her Master 1 internship with INSERM 1035, she worked on identifying the roles of the AXL receptor kinase in leukemic cells. During her Master thesis, she was working to study the splicing alterations of the FLT3 gene in leukemic cells. After her time in our lab, Livia pursued her studies in medical sciences as she wished to turn healthcare professional in the field of dentistry.