Maxime Marat

Biography

About Maxime Marat

Maxime Marat is a French chemical engineer who studied at Chimie ParisTech and ESPCI – PSL in Paris, driven by his passion for chemistry in all its aspects. During his studies, he decided to shift his focus towards health-related fields and completed an internship in the United States, where he worked on the design of a peptide vaccine against breast cancer, focusing primarily on organic and peptide synthesis. Driven by his interest in biomaterials and nanomedicine, he subsequently undertook his final-year Master’s internship at a startup specialising in extracellular vesicles. This experience confirmed his desire to work at the interface of chemistry and biology. When he discovered the HEAL-4WARD project, he recognised it as an ideal opportunity to combine his interests in these fields while gaining international research experience.

Doctoral project

Synthesis of antimicrobial peptidomimetics and polymer nanomaterials for biofilm degradation and treatment

Maxime’s thesis project aims to improve antibacterial treatments by addressing the challenge of biofilms, which reduce the effectiveness of conventional antibiotics. To achieve this, he will explore novel antimicrobial peptidomimetics combined with functionalised polymer nanomaterials to enhance biofilm penetration, degrade the biofilm matrix and eradicate embedded bacteria.He finds this approach particularly interesting as it offers an alternative to conventional antibiotics, whose effectiveness is increasingly limited. Furthermore, his project brings together a wide range of scientific concepts, from the design of peptide analogues and the development of nanovectors to the integration of enzymes capable of disrupting biofilms. It combines molecular design, physicochemical characterisation and biological evaluation, with a clear practical application: the treatment of infected wounds.
Ultimately, Maxime aims to integrate this new generation of targeted nanotherapeutics with other wound care strategies, including established approaches and emerging technologies such as microneedle wound patches being developed within the HEAL-4WARD consortium.