Our team

Alexandre Cavezza, an organic chemist with two decades’ experience in industry research & development and project management, has served as Executive Director of MetaGenoPolis since 2018.

Alexandre previously worked as an agrochemicals researcher and managed R&D projects at L’Oréal Paris before taking on his role at MetaGenoPolis.

He brings strengths in technical knowledge and team management: working with individuals that have diverse areas of expertise to create innovative, sustainable products. He is driven to make the expertise and services of MetaGenoPolis accessible to private sector partners.

Patrick Veiga joined the MICALIS and MetaGenoPolis units of INRAE in April 2022 as a Research Director. He is the Scientific Director of MetaGenoPolis and of the Le French Gut project. His work focuses on microbiota–nutrition–health interactions to develop preventive strategies. After completing a Master’s and a PhD at INRA, he joined Danone Nutricia Research in 2008, studying the impact of probiotics. In 2011, he was a visiting researcher at Harvard, exploring the molecular mechanisms of probiotics in inflammatory contexts. Returning to Danone in 2014, he co-directed the gut microbiota program and led a multidisciplinary team. In 2018, he launched an international project on diet–microbiota interactions with Rob Knight (UC San Diego). He obtained his Habilitation to Direct Research (HDR) in 2021 and is the author of 31 publications, including in Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, and PNAS.

A trained scientist, Karine Valeille now heads MetaGenoPolis strategic partnerships and business development related to the microbiome: human and animal nutrition and health.
She works to establish partnerships for set-up innovative and competitive projects through collaboration between recognized complementary skills in pharmaceutical groups, start ups/SMEs, academic research, and hospitals.

After a PhD in Nutritional Physiology (University of Paris Sud-Orsay) on the theme of modulation of cholesterol metabolism, Karine was an « early drug development » pharmacologist researcher in the field of diabetes/obesity at Pierre Fabre Médicament and then in charge of e-health, biological diagnostics and translational medicine projects at Medicen Paris Region.

After an experience as a microbiological engineer at the Champagne Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin and as a clinical study engineer at the APHP, Anne-Sophie obtained her PhD in microbiology financed by the French Armee (DGA), with work focused on nasal microbiota and colonization by Staphylococcus aureus. Anne-Sophie then worked at MetaGenoPolis as a bioanalyst to increase her skills in data science and bioinformatics. She completed her microbiome expertise at Danone in research and innovation with various scientific and communication missions. Anne-Sophie joined MetaGenoPolis via INRAE transfert as microbiome communication manager in October 2019.

After an academic career in microbiology, Chloé completed a PhD at the Pasteur Institute on the production and entry of botulinum toxins in the intestine, and a post doctoral degree at IBENS on the transcriptomic modification of intestinal cells during an infection with L. monocytogenes.

Subsequently, Chloé wanted to work in scientific innovation, and after a short experience as a consultant in innovation financing, she worked at Axelys Santé, a CRO specialized in medical and pharmaceutical affairs, as a development and innovation manager.

Chloé joins MetaGenoPolis in July 2020 as Project Manager Officer and will be in charge of monitoring the unit’s projects.

After obtaining a Master of Science degree from Robert Gordon University (Scotland), Elliot joined the INRAE MICALIS Institute as an engineer where he worked on projects focusing on the interactions between microbiomes (intestinal and pulmonary) and the host.

In 2017, Elliot started a PhD at the MICALIS Institute on the isolation of bacterial strains from the oral cavity and the characterization of their effects on respiratory health.

After graduating from Sorbonne University in June 2020, Elliot joined the METAFUN platform of MetaGenoPolis as Production Manager in Functional Metagenomics in July 2020.