Alain Boulangé

Alain Boulangé was born in 1967 in Périgueux, in the Dordogne region of south-west France, and grew up in Pauillac, in the heart of the Médoc wine region. After several postings in different African countries totalling more than 30 years of expatriation, he is since October 2021 a researcher at the Pierre Richet Institute, Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, seconded from CIRAD (French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Organisation for the Sustainable Development of Tropical and Mediterranean Regions), Montpellier, France, where he has been a researcher since 1997.
He did his graduate studies at the University of Bordeaux, in Biology-Health. His Master's internship was carried out at INRA-Bordeaux, and his PhD internship at ILRAD/ILRI (Nairobi, Kenya), defended in 1995, during which he characterised and expressed invariant trypanosome antigens involved in trypanotolerance. In 1996 he completed a one-year postdoc on malaria at IMBB-FORTH (Heraklion, Greece), on host-parasite interactions.
A molecular biologist by training, he is mainly involved in African animal trypanosomosis, on the parasite side, as opposed to the host and vector sides. His career has focused on three aspects, (i) development of "anti-disease" vaccines, (ii) development of serological diagnostic tests, and more recently (iii) the study of resistance to trypanocides. He has participated in several research projects on these topics, including three that he has set up and coordinated, Trypadvac2 (EU-FP6, 2005-2009, 1,3 M€), Congomune (GALVmed 2011-2016, 1 M€), and COMBAT (EU-H2020, 2021-2025, 6 M€). His specific research interests include both (i) the molecular engineering of recombinant antigens applied to diagnosis, and (ii) the molecular determinism of trypanocidal resistance. In addition, he has extensive experience in the design and monitoring of large animal experiments according to GLP criteria.
Finally, he has extensive teaching experience, having been a lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa), and a professor at the Eduardo Mondlane University (Maputo, Mozambique), where he set up and managed a Master's degree in Biotechnology for eight years, training some 50 professionals in the field. During his career, he has supervised 8 doctoral theses, 2 veterinary theses and 22 masters. He has published 26 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, several book chapters and conference proceedings.