Education:
Ph.D., University Paris 7 - 2004 (Biological Physics)
M.A., ENS-Lyon - 1998 (Physics)
B.A., ENS-Lyon - 1998 (Cellular and Molecular Biology)
B.A., ENS-Lyon - 1997 (Physics)
Areas of Expertise:
In recent years, scientists have discovered that biology is not all about chemicals, that physical forces are also an intimate part of biological communications. Biais is studying bacteria that can bench press 100,000 times their body weight. They use long retractable filaments, like microscale spidermen, to invite human cells in a close physical combat that can lead to infection. He is trying to understand the mechanisms at play to ultimately find new ways of preventing bacterial infections.
Books and Publications
Gurung, I., Spielman, I., Davies, M.R., Lala, R. Gaustad, P., Biais, N. & Pelicic, V. Functional analysis of an unusual type IV pilus in the Gram positive Streptococcus sanguinis. Molecular Microbiology 99:380-392 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Higashi, D.L., Biais, N., Donahue, D.L., Mayfield, J.A., Tessier, C., Rodriguez, K., Ashfeld, B.L., Luchetti, J., Ploplis, V.A., Castellino, F.J. & Lee, S.W. Activation of Band 3 mediates Group A Streptococcus Streptolysin S-based Beta-hemolysis. Nature Microbiology. 1:15004 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Santos, L.C., Muteanu, E.L. & Biais, N. An In Vitro Model System to test Mechano-microbiological Interactions between Bacteria and Host Cells Methods in Molecular Biology. 1365:195:212. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Munteanu, E.L., Spielman, I. & Biais, N. Analyzing bacterial movements on surfaces. Biophysical Methods in Cell Biology 125:453-469. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2015
Paluch, E.K., Nelson, C.M., Biais,N., Fabry, B., Moeller, J., Pruitt, B.L., Wollnik, C., Kudryasheva, G., Rehfeldt, F., & Federle, W. (2015) Mechanotransduction: use the force(s). BMC Biology 13:45 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2015
Veyrier, F.J., Biais, N., Morales, P., Belkacem, N., Guilhen, C., Ranjeva, S., Sismeiro, O., Pehau-Arnaudet, G., Rocha, E.P., Werts, C., Taha, M.K. & Boneca, I.G. Common Cell Shape Evolution of Two Nasopharyngeal Pathogens. PLoS Genetics. 11(7):21005338 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2015
Weber, C.A., Lin, Y.T., Biais, N. & Zaburdaev, V. Formation and Dissolution of Bacterial Colonies. Physical Review E. 92:032704. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2015
Zaburdaev, V., Biais, N. Schmiedeberg, M., Eriksson, J., Jonsson, A.B., Sheetz, M.P. & Weitz, D.A. Uncovering the mechanism of trapping and cell orientation during Neisseria gonorrhoeae twitching motility. Biophysical Journal 107(7):1523-1531 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2014
Baker, J.L., N. Biais and F. Tama. "Steered Molecular Dynamics Simulations of a Type IV Pilus Probe Initial Stages of a Force-induced Conformational Transition." PLoS Computational Biology 9.4: e1003032. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2013
Roca-Cusachs, P., A. Del Rio, E. Pulkin-Faucher, N. Gauthier, N. Biais and M. Sheetz. "Integrin-dependent force transmission to the extracellular matrix by a-actinin triggers adhesion maturation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.15: E1361-70. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2013
Weyand, N., A. Wertheimer, T. Hobbs, J. Sisko, N. Taku, L. Gregston, S. Clary, D. Higashi, N. Biais, L. Brown, S. Planer, A. Legasse, M. Axthelm, S. Wong and M. So. "Neisseria Infection of Rhesys Macaques as a Model to Study Colonization, Transmission, Persistence, and Horizontal Gene Transfer." PNAS 110.8: 3059-64. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2013
Biais, N., D. Higashi, M. So and B. Ladoux. "Techniques to Measure Pilus Retraction Forces." Methods in Molecular Biology 799: 197-216. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Seminar. Imperial College. London. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Seminar. Lehman College (CUNY). The Bronx, N.Y. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Seminar. MRC University City London. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Seminar. SUNY Binghamton. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Type IV pili lecture, for the Topics in Biology Course in Microbial Pathogenesis. Watson School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Cold Spring, N.Y. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Seminar, Ecole Normal Supérieure, Paris. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
Seminar, Institut de Génetiques et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
Seminar, Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
Seminar, Technische Universitat Berlin, Berlin. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
