Abdou Rachid Thiam holds an engineering degree in Physics from ESPCI Paris and UPMC, where he developed microfluidic tools to study the stability and behavior of emulsions, uncovering fundamental physical mechanisms underlying droplet fusion and coalescence. During his postdoctoral research at Yale University, he applied biophysical approaches to reconstitute vesicular trafficking mechanisms, discovering how the COPI machinery regulates lipid droplet tension and proteome dynamics.

Since 2014, as a faculty member at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) Paris, he has led a multidisciplinary research team exploring lipid droplet biophysics and cell biology. His work focuses on how lipid droplets form and interact with organelles such as the ER, mitochondria, and lysosomes and how lipid composition and metabolism influence cellular functions and disease processes. Combining model systems, cellular assays, and biophysical tools, his research bridges physics, biology, and pathophysiology to advance our understanding of lipid dynamics in health and disease.

Seminar topic: Lipid Droplets and the Pathophysiogenesis of Lipodystrophies