Lluis Quintana-Murci

Lluis Quintana-Murci is a Director of Research (DR1) at CNRS and leads the Unit of Human Evolutionary Genetics at Institut Pasteur, Paris. His work bridges evolutionary biology and immunogenetics to understand human genetic adaptation to pathogens.

• Accreditation to Direct Research (HDR), University of Paris VI (2005)
• PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Pavia (1998)
• M.A. in Genetics, University of Balearic Islands (1994)
• B.Sc. in Biological Sciences, University of Barcelona (1993)

Quintana-Murci's research focuses on population genetics of innate immunity genes, evolutionary biology of human host defense mechanisms, and genetic regulation of immune responses to infections. He has pioneered studies on how human populations adapt genetically to pathogens like tuberculosis.

His publications (143 peer-reviewed articles, including Nature and Science papers) reveal trends in human evolutionary immunogenomics, with emphasis on microRNA regulation, interferon pathways, and microbial sensor evolution. Key subfields include host-pathogen co-evolution, genetic diversity in immune genes, and functional genomics of infection response.

• CNRS Silver Medal (2013)
• ERC Starting Grant (2011)
• Debiopharm-EPFL Life Sciences Award (2009)
• CNRS Bronze Medal (2008)

As principal investigator, he secured major grants from ERC, ANR, and National Geographic Society. His laboratory collaborates internationally on genomic approaches to human adaptation and leads EMBO conferences on host genetics. He mentors researchers through editorial and service roles at CNRS and Institut Pasteur.