Julien Thézé

THÉZÉ Julien

• ORCID : 0000-0001-8188-9494 - IdHal : julien-theze
• Phone : +33 4.73.26.40.50
• Email : julien.theze [at] inrae.fr

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

• From September 2019 - INRAE: Permanent Researcher (CRCN)
  Subject: “Molecular epidemiology of animal and zoonotic diseases”
  Epidemiology of Animal and Zoonotic Diseases, UMR 0346, INRAE,
  VetAgroSup, Saint-Gènes-Champanelle, France
• February 2015 – July 2019: Postdoctoral Researcher
  Subject: “Phylodynamics of viral infectious diseases”
  Supervisor: Prof. Oliver Pybus
  Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK
  ERC funding (PATHPHYLODYN - 614725)
• February 2014 – January 2015: Postdoctoral Researcher
  Subject: “Genomic basis of the sex determination system in the woodlouse Armadillidium vulgare infected by the bacteria Wolbachia”
  Supervisor: Dr. Richard Cordaux
  Ecology and Biology of Interactions, UMR CNRS 7267, University of Poitiers, France
  ERC Funding (EndoSexDet - 260729)
• October 2009 – May 2013: PhD in computational evolutionary biology
  Subject: “Genomic diversification and adaptation of insect DNA viruses”
  Supervisor: Dr. Elisabeth Herniou
  Research Institute of Insect Biology, UMR CNRS 7261, University of Tours, France
  CNRS BDI/Region Centre studentship - ERC Funding (GENOVIR - 205206)
• February – September 2009: Research Assistant in computational biology
  Subject: “Bracovirus evolution”
  Supervisor: Dr. Elisabeth Herniou
  Research Institute of Insect Biology, UMR CNRS 7261, University of Tours, France
  ERC Funding (GENOVIR - 205206)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• I am a computational evolutionary biologist with broad interests in viral evolution, genome evolution, mobile genetic element evolution, and ecology.
• My previous research focused on insect virus macroevolution.
• My current research focuses on investigating the evolutionary dynamics of human and animal pathogens, combining genetic, spatial and ecological information.
• My projects involve
  • (i) investigating pathogen cross-species transmission and host shifts,
  • (ii) uncovering the spatio-temporal dynamics of pathogens,
  • (iii) identifying drivers underlying pathogen spread, and
  • (iv) developing methods for pathogen discoveries in animal populations.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (* denotes equal contributions)

See his Google Scholar and IdHal profiles for the full list of his publications

• Hill SC, Vasconcelos J, Neto Z, Jandondo D, Zé-Zé L, Aguiar RS, Xavier J, Thézé J, Mirandela M, Micolo Candido AL, Vaz F, Cruz Dos Santos S, Wu C-H, Kraemer MUG, Melo A, Schamber-Reis BLF, De Azevedo GS, Tanuri A, Higa LM, Clemente C, Pereira Da Silva S, da Silva Candido D, Claro IM, Quibuco D, Domingos C, Pocongo B, Watts AG, Khan K, Alcantra LCJ, Sabino EC, Lackritz E, Pybus OG, Alves MJ, Afonso J, Faria NR (2019) Emergence of the Zika virus Asian lineage in Angola: an outbreak investigation. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 19:1138-1147. DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30293-2.
• Thézé J, Lopez-Vaamonde C, Cory JS, Herniou EA (2018) Biodiversity, evolution and ecological specialization of baculoviruses: A treasure trove for future applied research. Viruses 10:366. DOI:10.3390/v10070366.
• Thézé J, Li T, du Plessis L, Bouquet J, Kraemer MU, Somasekar S, Yu G, de Cesare M, Balmaseda A, Kuan G, Harris E, Wu CH, Ansari AM, Bowden R, Faria NR, Yagi S, Messenger S, Brooks T, Stone M, Bloch E, Busch M, Muñoz-Medina JE, González-Bonilla CR, Wolinsky S, López S, Arias C, Bonsall D, Chiu CY, Pybus OG (2018) Genomic epidemiology reconstructs the introduction and spread of Zika virus in central America and Mexico. Cell Host & Microbe 23:855-864.e7. DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2018.04.017.
• da Costa AC*, Thézé J*, Komninakis SCV, Sanz-Duro RL, Felinto MRL, Moura LCC, de Oliveira Barroso IM, Santos LEC, de Lemos Nunes MA, Moura AA, Lourenço J, Deng X, Delwart EL, dos Anjos Silva Guimarães MR, Pybus OG, Sabino EC, Faria NR (2017) Spread of Chikungunya virus East/Central/South African genotype in northeast Brazil. Emerging Infectious Diseases 23:1742-1744. DOI: 10.3201/eid2310.170307.
• Faria NR*, Quick J*, Claro IM*, Thézé J*, Goes de Jesus J*, Giovanetti M*, Kraemer MUG*, Hill SC*, Black A*, da Costa AC, Franco LC, Silva SP, Wu CH, Raghwani J, Cauchemez S, du Plessis L, Verotti MP, de Oliveira WK, Carmo EH, Coelho GE, Santelli ACFS, Vinhal LC, Henriques CM, Simpson JT, Loose M, Andersen KG, Grubaugh ND, Somasekar S, Chiu CY, Muñoz-Medina JE, Gonzalez-Bonilla CR, Arias CF, Lewis-Ximenez LL, Baylis SA, Chieppe AO, Aguiar SF, Fernandes CA, Lemos PS, Nascimento BLS, Monteiro HAO, Siqueira IC, de Queiroz MG, de Souza TR, Bezerra JF, Lemos MR, Pereira GF, Loudal D, Moura LC, Dhalia R, França RF, Magalhães T, Marques ET Jr, Jaenisch T, Wallau GL, de Lima MC, Nascimento V, de Cerqueira EM, de Lima MM, Mascarenhas DL, Neto JPM, Levin AS, Tozetto-Mendoza TR, Fonseca SN, Mendes-Correa MC, Milagres FP, Segurado A, Holmes EC, Rambaut A, Bedford T, Nunes MR, Sabino EC, Alcantara LCJ, Loman NJ, Pybus OG (2017) Establishment and cryptic transmission of Zika virus in Brazil and the Americas. Nature 546:406-410. DOI: 10.1038/nature22401.
• Leclercq S*, Thézé J*, Chebbi MA, Giraud I, Moumen B, Ernenwein L, Grève P, Gilbert C, Cordaux R (2016) Birth of a W sex chromosome by horizontal transfer of Wolbachia bacterial symbiont genome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 113:15036-15041. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1608979113.
• Naccache SN*, Thézé J*, Sardi SI, Somasekar S, Greninger AL, Bandeira AC, Campos GS, Tauro LB, Faria NR, Pybus OG, Chiu CY (2016). Distinct Zika virus lineage in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Emerging Infectious Diseases 22:1788-1792. DOI: 10.3201/eid2210.160663.
• Pybus OG and Thézé J (2016) Hepacivirus cross-species transmission and the origins of the hepatitis C virus. Current Opinion in Virology 16:1-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2015.10.002.
• Thézé J, Lowes S, Parker J, Pybus OG (2015) Evolutionary and phylogenetic analysis of the hepaciviruses and pegiviruses. Genome Biology and Evolution 7:2996-3008. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evv202.
• Thézé J, Takatsuka J, Nakai M, Arif B, Herniou EA (2015) Gene acquisition convergence between Entomopoxviruses and Baculoviruses. Viruses 7:1960-74. DOI: 10.3390/v7041960.
• Thézé J, Leclercq S, Moumen B, Cordaux R, Gilbert C (2014) Remarkable diversity of endogenous viruses in a crustacean genome. Genome Biology and Evolution 6:2129-2140. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evu163.
• Herniou EA, Huguet EJ, Thézé J, Bézier A, Periquet G, Drezen J-M (2013) When parasitic wasps hijacked viruses: genomic and functional evolution of polydnaviruses (review). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series B 368:20130051. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0051.
• Thézé J, Takatsuka J, Li Z, Gallais J, Arif B, Nakai M, Herniou EA (2013) New insights into the evolution of Entomopoxvirinae from the complete genome sequences of four entomopoxviruses infecting Adoxophyes honmai, Choristoneura biennis, Choristoneura rosaceana and Mythimna separata. Journal of Virology 87:7992-8003. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.00453-13.
• Thézé J, Bézier A, Periquet G, Drezen J-M, Herniou EA (2011) Paleozoic origin of insect large dsDNA viruses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108:15931-15935. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105580108.