Justine Benezis

Justine’s PhD (2026-2029) examines the diversity and vulnerability of marine reef fish larval recruitment and metamorphosis, as part of the FRAMES project.

Before this, as part of her Master in Ecophysiology and Ecotoxicology at Sorbonne University (Master EPET), Justine undertook a 6 month internship with us in the EcoEvoDevo team, in 2026. Justine worked under the supervision of Laure Fontimpe and Marc Besson, primarily on fish behavioral and chemical ecology (MEGASETE research project, thanks to a Master Fellowship from the Institut de l’Océan (Alliance Sorbonne Université). Man-made structures immersed in sea-water are rapidly colonized by microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, microalgae…) and later by macroorganisms (mussel, barnacle, macroalgae…). The community formed by these organisms is called biofouling and is known to attract fish. In this context, Justine conducted double choice flume tank experiments to assess if AHL (bacterial communication compounds) can affect early life-stage swimming behavior of the two-banded seabream. After recording fish locations in the flume, she then analysed fish behavior using a specific computational workflow: automated landmark tracking using in-house Python algorithm involving deep-learning approaches, to extract various behavioral metrics. Justine also carried out AHL extraction and identification (UHPLC-HRMS) from sea-water and biofouling samples coming from the fish environment to see if the molecules tested are present in it. Finally, Justine investigated the fish’s receptors that could be triggered by AHL with PCR and ISH experiment.