Didier Cabanes obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier in 2000, on the identification and characterization of Sinorhizobium meliloti genes regulated during symbiosis with Medicago sativa under the supervision of J. Batut, INRA, Toulouse. D. Cabanes then made a Post-Doc in the laboratory of Pascale Cossart at Institut Pasteur Paris, studying the mechanisms of virulence of Listeria monocytogenes. In 2005, he joined the IBMC (Porto, Portugal) to create the Group of Molecular Microbiology (GM2). He is currently i3S Vice-Director and Coordinator of the i3S Research Program on Infection, Immunity and Regeneration. He is Member of the Scientific Board of the MCbiology PhD Program, and Editor for Research in Microbiology and Toxins. Using Listeria monocytogenes as model organism of intracellular parasitism, D. Cabanes current research aims to decipher how bacterial pathogens organize their surface and control gene expression to promote virulence, for the development of new antimicrobial approaches.