Modelling Biological Systems: Tools and applications to tackle complexity

Rémi Peyraud and Damien Michelon (iMEAN, Toulouse)

27 November 2025

Seminar

Pratical info

12:00 - 13:00

Conference room Rosalind Franklin

Reduced mobility access

Understanding and predicting biological complexity requires robust computational approaches. This presentation offers a concise overview of modelling strategies applied across diverse biological systems.
We explore pathogen-host interactions at cellular and tissue levels to simulate infection and colonization dynamics. In human health, we focus on leukemic cell modelling to investigate mechanisms of treatment resistance. We also address host-microbiota interactions, with applications in gut and skin ecosystems. Finally, we provide insights into how modelling biological regulatory systems—combining mechanistic approaches and AI-driven methods—can pave the way for predictive immunology, grounded in the latest advances in immunological research.
This work is carried out by iMEAN, a bioinformatics startup founded in 2018 and based in Toulouse within the Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB) biofoundry.iMEAN specializes in predictive modelling of biological systems and offers innovative bioinformatics solutions to address the complexity of living systems by combining mathematical modeling, metabolic and regulatory network analysis, and multi-omics data integration. Our models simulate cellular behavior, predict metabolic fluxes, and help identify therapeutic solutions, supporting academic and industrial researchers in optimizing their Research & Development projects, particularly in health, agri-food, and environmental sectors.

Rémi Peyraud, iMEAN CEO & Co-Founder, is a biochemist and systems biology specialist who has dedicated his career to the computational modeling of living organisms. He earned his PhD at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow at LIPM (INRAE & CNRS, Toulouse), further developing his expertise in modeling living organisms and environmental microbiology. In 2018, Rémi co-founded iMEAN with Lucas Marmiesse, based on modeling technology developed during a decade of research at INRAE.

Damien Michelon, iMEAN Business Developer, holds a PhD in microbiology from the University of Burgundy. Damien has specialized in structuring R&D partnerships and developing collaborative projects in biotechnology, combining research, entrepreneurship, and strategic consulting. His background in biology and biotechnology has enabled him to develop a strong expertise in the analysis and valorization of biological systems and, as a Business Developer at iMEAN, he facilitates the implementation of scientific and technological collaborations in the fields of health, environment, food and industrial biotechnology.

Selected publications :

Peyraud et al, 2009, PNAS. Demonstration of the ethylmalonyl-CoA pathway by using 13C metabolomics.
Scotland, Peyraud et al 2013, Leukemia. Mitochondrial energetic and AKT status mediate metabolic effects and apoptosis of metformin in human leukemic cells.
Marmiesse and Peyraud, 2015, BMC Syst Biol.. FlexFlux: combining metabolic flux and regulatory network analyses.
Peyraud et al, 2018, Nat Commun..Control of primary metabolism by a virulence regulatory network promotes robustness in a plant pathogen.

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