The team’s experimental activity ranges from the study of isolated biomolecules to the study of a living organism through the single cell. Single molecule studies use a technique developed in the team to manipulate (pull and twist) DNA molecules to obtain information about the physics of nucleic acids and the proteins that act on them. The team also studies the interactions between bacteria within a microcolony, primarily the adhesion interactions of bacteria to each other and to their substrate and the exchanges between bacteria, to understand the ecological and evolutionary constraints that regulate the growth of a biofilm. Studies on a living organism focus on the study of development and cancer in zebrafish. The group uses an optogenetic technique that allows the control of gene expression at the level of a single cell. We are studying somitogenesis in this fish but also the early mechanisms of single cell carcinogenesis.