Dr Alexandre Persat

Alexandre Persat is an Associate Professor at Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences at EPFL. He completed his undergraduate studies at École Polytechnique in Paris, earned a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering, and obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, where he developed miniaturised diagnostic technologies and quantitative tools at the interface of microengineering and biology. He subsequently trained as a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University in molecular biology, expanding his expertise into cellular and microbial systems. He built his research program by applying engineering and physical principles to living systems, uncovering how mechanical forces shape microbial physiology and infection. As the head of the Microbial Mechanics lab at EPFL, he leads interdisciplinary research integrating synthetic biology, advanced imaging, microfabrication, and quantitative modeling to study bacterial infections and the emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens.