Exploring the potential of magnetotactic bacteria for the medicine of tomorrow
Winner of the Young Researchers Award presented by the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, Lucia Gandarias-Albaina, a postdoctoral researcher at BIAM, has been recognized for the originality and potential applications of her work. At the crossroads of microbiology, biotechnology, and materials science, her research focuses on magnetotactic bacteria and the magnetic nanoparticles they produce, with the aim of opening up new perspectives for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
You have just been awarded the Young Researchers Prize. What does this distinction mean to you?
Above all, this prize represents a great recognition of my work and my involvement in research. It has strong symbolic value, as it shows that the issues we are studying in the laboratory and the approaches we are developing are relevant and useful to the scientific community. It recognizes a career in progress, marked by scientific curiosity, commitment, and collaborative work. More than an individual success, this award reflects the collective work carried out with my colleagues and the confidence placed in forward-looking research.
What is the common thread running through your research?
The common thread running through my work is the study and improvement of the capabilities of magnetotactic bacteria (see box), microorganisms present in the environment, as well as magnetosomes, the magnetic nanoparticles they produce. The aim is to explore their potential for applications in biomedical diagnosis and therapy. I think the originality of this approach and the potential applications of these systems particularly caught the jury’s attention.
What major scientific question are you seeking to answer through your work?
We are seeking to better understand whether magnetotactic bacteria and the magnetosomes they produce can be used for cancer diagnosis and treatment. We are also interested in how these systems can be exploited and whether their already remarkable characteristics can be improved.
What recent scientific advance do you consider the most significant in your career?
We have demonstrated the potential of magnetotactic bacteria as antitumor agents in magnetic hyperthermia treatments (see box). We have also shown that these bacteria can be induced to penetrate tumor cells, suggesting their potential as drug delivery agents for cancer treatments.
How does your multidisciplinary approach and your results advance your field of research?
What characterizes my work above all is a multidisciplinary approach, at the interface of microbiology, biotechnology, and materials science. This training allows me to mobilize tools and techniques from these different fields to study magnetotactic bacteria and the magnetosomes they produce. My results show how these biological systems can be studied, understood, and optimized for biomedical applications. By combining several disciplines, this approach opens up new research perspectives and offers original methods for exploiting the potential of magnetotactic bacteria, thereby contributing to the advancement of the field.
What role did BIAM play in the development of your work?
By joining BIAM, I had the opportunity to broaden my skills. Coming mainly from materials science, I trained in molecular microbiology, which opened up new perspectives for my work. The atmosphere at the center and the support of my colleagues were decisive: working in a stimulating and caring environment is extremely enriching.
What long-term impact do you expect your research to have?
In the long term, I would like my work to contribute to the development of new strategies for cancer diagnosis and treatment, based on the properties of magnetotactic bacteria and magnetosomes. Beyond this specific field, this research could also inspire other areas that use microorganisms or magnetic nanoparticles for biotechnological and biomedical applications, strengthening the links between fundamental research and medical applications.
What message would you like to send to young female researchers who are starting out in scientific research today?
Above all, I would tell them to do what they love, not to doubt themselves, and to have confidence in themselves. It is important not to let negative criticism that is not constructive get to you and to surround yourself with inspiring people. Research is a demanding profession, punctuated by rejection—rejected articles, funding not obtained—but what I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world is the freedom it offers to explore what we are passionate about.
What have been your main sources of inspiration throughout your career, and how have they shaped your vision of the research profession?
My main sources of inspiration are my colleagues: from my thesis to my postdoctoral studies, I was fortunate to work in teams that were predominantly female and shared the same professional and personal concerns. In a demanding field such as research, these close role models are essential and show that it is possible to balance a scientific career with personal life.
Magnetotactic bacteria: guided by the magnetic field
Found in aquatic environments around the world, magnetotactic bacteria are microorganisms capable of naturally orienting themselves along the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field. While they swim actively, their alignment occurs passively, a behavior called magnetotaxis.
This ability is based on specific structures within the cell called magnetosomes. These intracellular organelles contain a crystal of magnetic iron mineral—most often magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4)—enveloped by a proteolipid membrane.
Magnetic hyperthermia: heating tumors to fight them more effectively
Magnetic hyperthermia is an innovative therapeutic approach that involves weakening cancer cells by applying localized heat. The principle is based on the use of magnetic nanoparticles, which attach to the surface of tumor cells or are directly internalized by them.
When subjected to an alternating magnetic field, these nanoparticles dissipate energy in the form of heat, causing a targeted increase in tumor temperature, generally between 42 and 44°C. This increase in temperature kills cancer cells or slows their proliferation, while limiting the effects on surrounding healthy tissue.