Meet Dr. Emilie Alaux
6 May 2025
Getting to Know Emilie
Hello! My name is Emilie, and since early 2025 I have been a postdoctoral researcher at the Biodiscovery platform within the UNLOCK initiative. I am an agricultural engineer from France, specialized in Green Chemistry, Bioprocesses, and Sustainable Development. Over the years, I have built strong expertise in fermentation research, working with microalgae, cyanobacteria, and bacterial consortia in laboratories across France and New Zealand.
After completing my engineering degree, I spent several years as a research engineer working on the valorization of industrial effluents for the cultivation of spirulina. In 2022, I obtained my PhD in microbial engineering from the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute, where my research focused on the production of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates—bioplastics—using microbial mixed cultures. My approach combined fermentation techniques with microbial ecology, laying the groundwork for my current interdisciplinary focus.
In 2024, I joined the Microbial Physiology group at Wageningen University & Research as a postdoctoral researcher. There, I explored microbial interactions in anaerobic systems, particularly dependencies with methanogens, using multi-omics, microbial exclusion, and co-cultivation methods.
My Role in the Research Team
At the Biodiscovery platform, I focus on developing a novel single-cell analysis system based on optics and microfluidics. The aim is to create a Raman-assisted cell-sorting platform that will help us investigate and isolate microorganisms from complex communities at the single-cell level. I will also be involved in the Microbioreactor unit, where we screen and study both natural and defined microbial communities.
As my role is still relatively new, I am currently undergoing training and learning to operate various equipment central to our platform’s goals. My objective is to bring together my background in microbial ecology, engineering, and lab-based research to support tool development and deepen our understanding of uncultivated or poorly characterized microbes.
My Motivation for Joining UNLOCK
What drew me to the UNLOCK initiative was its strong interdisciplinary and collaborative foundation. The opportunity to work at the intersection of microfluidics, spectroscopy, microscopy, and microbiology—alongside experts from different fields—was particularly exciting to me. I see this as the ideal environment to expand my technical knowledge while contributing to pioneering research that could lead to important microbial discoveries.
What Excites Me Most About This New Environment
This position offers the chance to combine tool development with microbial exploration, which is exactly where I feel my skills and interests intersect. I am especially enthusiastic about contributing to the single-cell platform and seeing how it can reveal new microbial behaviors and relationships. Working with such a diverse and forward-thinking team is also a major highlight—it’s a place where innovation thrives.
My Contribution to Ongoing Projects
I hope to contribute by bringing a systems-level perspective to microbial cultivation and analysis. With my experience in fermentation and microbial community dynamics, I aim to support the platform in designing experiments that not only identify new organisms but also help us understand their ecological roles. I am eager to collaborate with colleagues across the different UNLOCK platforms and contribute to the integration of tools that will make microbiome research more powerful and accessible.
