Farah Fouladkar works at Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) in the Membrane Group.

Her project: Design of insecticidal proteins targeting ion channels.

Graduating with a Master’s degree in Health Engineering, specializing in Cellular Therapy and Tissue Engineering, from the University of Grenoble Alpes, I joined the Membrane team at the IBS to begin a PhD under the supervision of Hugues Nury. The goal of my thesis is to design insecticidal proteins targeting the ion channels of insects. These ion channels, which play a crucial role in the central nervous system and muscle excitability of insects, are the primary molecular targets of neurotoxic insecticides, representing up to 70% of the value of the insecticide market. I aim to determine the structure of the insect target receptors, design high-affinity ligands with insecticidal properties, and carry out experimental characterization of the receptor-ligand complexes.