CV Science

Xavier Collet PhD director of research INSERM

Course and current status

Academic and professional activities

Leader of the Team “ Lipoproteins lipid transport and dyslipidemia” since 2002

2011 Co-director of team 2 “Intestinal risk factors, diabetes and dyslipidemia” at the Institute of Molecular Medicine of Rangueil, Toulouse.

Director of research INSERM at Unit 326 since October 2000

Director of the Federative Research Institute Claude de Preval  2007-2008

Director of the Bio-Medical Federative Research Institute IFR150  January 2009

Elected member of the CSS INSERM n°7 (1995-1998)

Member of the board of the research group on the lipids and lipoproteins since May 2000

Vice-president of the scientific  advisory board of National Nutrition Society since March 2005

Member of the board of the Genopole (Toulouse) since May 2005

Europeen expert at the 5^ème PCRDT, program "Quality of Life" May 2000

Ad hoc Reviever at Biochim. Biochimica Biophysica Acta, J. Biol. Chem , FEBS, ATVB, biochemistry, JLR,

Scientific summary

The team works for a long time in lipid and lipoprotein research in relation to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Major contributions of the team are in the field of plasma lipoprotein remodelling and HDL metabolism with the identification of a new original pathway for liver HDL uptake. The team has developed an expertise in lipid handling and analysis, in physiological studies and in cellular biology. In addition the team has developed original animal models (specific intestinal transgenic SR-BI and KO SR-BI) that represents good tools to studying intestinal lipid absorption, lipoprotein secretion and cholesterol homeostasis. We also developed a good expertise in the classical intestinal cell culture model Caco2 with a special aspect on confocal and bipoton microscopy with the help of the cellular imaging platform of Toulouse. We especially study the respective roles of cholesterol transporters in uptake, intra-enterocytic transport, and basolateral secretion of lipids. Part of the group joined Remy Burcelin’s team (INSERM 1048) in order to share knowledge and new interests focused on the role of the intestine in dyslipidemia and diabetes. I was the coordinator of the ABSINTE programm (PNRA) and collaborate with different national teams in order to develop a structured research program on the intestinal absorption of lipophilic molecules studied at the level of intra-enterocytic trafficking in cellular and animal models.