LARCHER Gérald

Gérald Larcher is currently professor of biochemistry and animal biology at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Angers. Following his studies in pharmacy, he joined the study group for host-pathogen interactions (Université d’Angers, Institute of Health Biology CHU) for his research activities which mainly focused on virulence factors (proteolytic enzymes and oxidative stress, siderophores) of fungal pathogens involved in cystic fibrosis. Eager to sensitize health students to a new evolutionary and ecological approach to health problems, he recently opened a teaching unit called "Ecology of health". At the same time, his interest in nature led him to create in 2000 with naturalist friends from the region the bats group of the Loire Valley. Confronted in 2003 with a case of a rabid bat that involved a human being in Maine-et-Loire, in 2007 he took over the coordination of the epidemiological surveillance network for rabies in bats created by ANSES-Nancy in collaboration with the French society for the study and protection of mammals (SFEPM). Currently, he is a member of the board of directors of the SFEPM, more specifically in charge of health issues concerning bats.