AAF-SFBV 2026 Thesis Prize: At the Source of Plant Secretion, Louise Fougère’s Work Recognized
The transport of proteins and lipids within the cell relies on a system of membrane compartments whose organization in plants remains, in part, a mystery.
This subject is at the heart of the work of Louise Fougère, winner of the 2026 joint AAF-SFBV prize for her thesis on the early secretory pathway in plant cells. The prize came with a cheque for €500.
Louise Fougère presenting her thesis (photo credit: J. Lothier)
Carried out at the Laboratoire de biogenèse membranaire (LBM, UMR 5200, Villenave-d’Ornon) at the University of Bordeaux, under the supervision of Yohann Boutté, her thesis, entitled “Revisiting the early secretory pathway in plant cells: identification of a dynamic tubulo-vesiculated ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) that matures in Golgi“, was defended on 28 November 2025.
By combining quantitative tracking of intracellular compartments in living cells, inducible release of genetically encoded cargos from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and super-resolution microscopy, Louise Fougère identified a tubulo-vesicular network at the ER-Golgi interface. This network interacts dynamically with both the ER and the Golgi, and becomes stabilized in the vicinity of pre-existing Golgi apparatus.
Jérémy Lothier (SFBV President) and Michel Dron (President of the French Academy of Agriculture) present the thesis prize to Louise Fougère (photo credit: J. Lothier)
Her work also shows that ceramides, a class of sphingolipids, play an important role both in the formation of the ERGIC network from the ER and in its stabilization at the Golgi. This stabilization gives rise to a new pre-cisterna, which is subsequently integrated into the Golgi apparatus. These results renew our view of Golgi organization in plants, and suggest that ER-Golgi traffic occurs through a network of tubules, and not only through vesicles, thereby challenging the classical model of vesicular transport. They were published in the journal Nature Cell Biology (2025), of which Louise Fougère is first author.
To build on these discoveries, she has undertaken further research to determine whether conventional COP vesicle carriers are present in this network, and what the functional role of the ERGIC is in the physiology of plant cells.
Currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva, in Marie Barberon’s team, Louise Fougère is studying the process of suberin deposition in plant cells, a polymer essential to the protective barriers of roots. She thus continues her exploration of membrane organization and intracellular trafficking in plants.
With this prize, the AAF and the SFBV recognize the importance of plant cell biology and of a detailed understanding of intracellular trafficking, a field at the core of how plant cells are organized and function.
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Posted: 1 October 2026 by Damien Fuster
AAF-SFBV 2026 Thesis Prize: At the Source of Plant Secretion, Louise Fougère’s Work Recognized
The transport of proteins and lipids within the cell relies on a system of membrane compartments whose organization in plants remains, in part, a mystery.
This subject is at the heart of the work of Louise Fougère, winner of the 2026 joint AAF-SFBV prize for her thesis on the early secretory pathway in plant cells. The prize came with a cheque for €500.
Carried out at the Laboratoire de biogenèse membranaire (LBM, UMR 5200, Villenave-d’Ornon) at the University of Bordeaux, under the supervision of Yohann Boutté, her thesis, entitled “Revisiting the early secretory pathway in plant cells: identification of a dynamic tubulo-vesiculated ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) that matures in Golgi“, was defended on 28 November 2025.
By combining quantitative tracking of intracellular compartments in living cells, inducible release of genetically encoded cargos from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and super-resolution microscopy, Louise Fougère identified a tubulo-vesicular network at the ER-Golgi interface. This network interacts dynamically with both the ER and the Golgi, and becomes stabilized in the vicinity of pre-existing Golgi apparatus.
Her work also shows that ceramides, a class of sphingolipids, play an important role both in the formation of the ERGIC network from the ER and in its stabilization at the Golgi. This stabilization gives rise to a new pre-cisterna, which is subsequently integrated into the Golgi apparatus. These results renew our view of Golgi organization in plants, and suggest that ER-Golgi traffic occurs through a network of tubules, and not only through vesicles, thereby challenging the classical model of vesicular transport. They were published in the journal Nature Cell Biology (2025), of which Louise Fougère is first author.
To build on these discoveries, she has undertaken further research to determine whether conventional COP vesicle carriers are present in this network, and what the functional role of the ERGIC is in the physiology of plant cells.
Currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva, in Marie Barberon’s team, Louise Fougère is studying the process of suberin deposition in plant cells, a polymer essential to the protective barriers of roots. She thus continues her exploration of membrane organization and intracellular trafficking in plants.
With this prize, the AAF and the SFBV recognize the importance of plant cell biology and of a detailed understanding of intracellular trafficking, a field at the core of how plant cells are organized and function.
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