Catherine LLANES

Catherine LLANES is a Professor at the Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, associated with the PATHOGENES department. Her research focuses on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, particularly antibiotic resistance mechanisms induced by essential oils and bacterial defense strategies such as efflux pumps and gene expression regulation. She investigates how compounds like cinnamaldehyde trigger multidrug resistance in pathogens. Her work merges microbiology, molecular biology, and bacterial physiology to combat antibiotic resistance in clinical settings.

Her studies emphasize the unintended consequences of essential oil usage, revealing how components like cinnamaldehyde can select for drug-resistant mutants or induce efflux systems that reduce antibiotic efficacy. Key projects include analyzing transcriptional regulators (e.g., AmgRS, CmrA) mediating resistance and understanding the interplay between environmental stressors and bacterial pathogenicity.

Publications highlight her expertise in efflux pump regulation (MexEF-OprN, MexT), amino acid substitution effects on resistance, and proteomic approaches to quantify resistance mechanisms in clinical isolates. Her research bridges fundamental biology and applied antimicrobial strategies, addressing urgent global health challenges like multidrug-resistant infections.