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François X. P. Bourassa

@fxpbourassa.bsky.social
100 followers 231 following 8 posts

Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Physics of Biological Function, Princeton University orcid.org/0000-0002-2757-5870

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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
cpbf.bsky.social @cpbf.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Applications for our annual postdoc fellowship search are due October 1! Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/188492
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
We are hiring post-docs ! If you are interested in projects at the interface between physics, biology and machine learning (AI ?) please contact me ! More details here www.francoisresearch.org/positions
Post-doc ad, check https://www.francoisresearch.org/positions
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Happy to share our latest review article, “Learning the Principles of T Cell Antigen Discernment.” www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... with @fxpbourassa.bsky.social , Sooraj Achar and Grégoire Altan-Bonnet ! 1/4
annualreviews.org
Learning the Principles of T Cell Antigen Discernment
T cells are central to the adaptive immune response, capable of detecting pathogenic antigens while ignoring healthy tissues with remarkable specificity and sensitivity. Quantitatively understanding h...
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
We hope our focus on fluctuating odors will inspire more experiments with naturalistic temporal statistics in olfactory mixtures. On the theory side, the manifold learning concept may inform background filtering strategies in other biological and artificial systems.
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
We then dissect, numerically and analytically, the dynamics and stability of these models (detailed Appendix!). Notably, we find that local interneurons endowed with the IBCM learning rule decompose the background by selecting individual odors.
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
We combine biologically plausible models of synaptic plasticity to implement this strategy in the early olfactory circuit. Simulating these learning rules show they greatly improve the recognition of new odors in fluctuating backgrounds.
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Our proposal: manifold learning is optimal against fast fluctuations in high-dimensional olfactory space. Instead of filtering by anticipating inputs, a better strategy is to learn the low-dimensional manifold of background odors and suppress input projections in that subspace.
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Due to turbulent transport, natural odor signals are intermittent and vary rapidly. Yet, animals filter out backgrounds with such fluctuations to discern new, relevant olfactory cues. How does that work?
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Why do we stop smelling odors that linger? In our new @prxlife.bsky.social paper with @pfrancois.bsky.social, @gautamreddy.bsky.social, and Massimo Vergassola, we develop a manifold learning theory of this olfactory habituation process in fluctuating environments. 🔗 doi.org/10.1103/q62z... 🧵🔽
Schematic of the early olfactory circuit with local interneurons inhibiting projection neurons. Above local neurons, a simplified depiction of a curved background manifold with a new odor that has an orthogonal component to the manifold. The circuit receives a mixture of background and new odor (apple) and outputs the new odor only.
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
David Hathcock @davidhathcock.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Last call for postdoctoral applications to join my group at University of Toronto. Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more about the position.
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Congrats @vmochulska.bsky.social and Paul, so nice to see this story officially published! The figures look amazing!
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Very happy to share our 'Evoscape' paper, now published in PNAS ! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Generative epigenetic landscapes map the topology and topography of cell fates | PNAS
Epigenetic landscapes were proposed by Waddington as the central concept to describe cell fate dynamics in a locally low-dimensional space. In mode...
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
"Learning the principles of T cell antigen discernment" a review focused on the theoretical and experimental principles of Adaptive Kinetic Proofreading, with recent application to cancer immunotherapy ! With @fxpbourassa.bsky.social , Sooraj Achar and Grégoire Altan-Bonnet. arxiv.org/abs/2511.18626
arxiv.org
Learning the principles of T cell antigen discernment
T cells are central to the adaptive immune response, capable of detecting pathogenic antigens while ignoring healthy tissues with remarkable specificity and sensitivity. Quantitatively understanding h...
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François X. P. Bourassa @fxpbourassa.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Merci beaucoup Paul pour la nomination, la supervision et le soutien pendant ma thèse!
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Qiwei Yu @qiweiyu.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
As the march meeting abstract deadline approaches, please check out our session! Please RT/forward
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
We are hiring ! If you want to become professor of Bioinformatics in the best city of North America, check the announcement below ! Also you do need to speak French (as long as you commit to learning it :) ) www.umontreal.ca/public/www/d...
umontreal.ca
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
cpbf.bsky.social @cpbf.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Apply now to be a CPBF Fellow in 2026! puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
puwebp.princeton.edu
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
National Cancer Institute on our venture in Cancer Immunotherapy :) ccr.cancer.gov/news/article...
ccr.cancer.gov
T-cell receptors can help CAR T cells steer clear of healthy tissue while they attack tumors | Center for Cancer Research
Adding a specific T-cell receptor to CAR T cells may reduce side effects of immunotherapies designed to target solid tumors.
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
"Pour une immunothérapie encore plus précise" : merci à Catherine Couturier et à UdeM Nouvelles pour la couverture de notre récent article, en collaboration avec les groupes Taylor et Altan-Bonnet au NCI ! nouvelles.umontreal.ca/article/2025...
nouvelles.umontreal.ca
Pour une immunothérapie encore plus précise
Une équipe de recherche réussit à créer une cellule immunitaire plus efficace qui combat les cancers sans toucher aux tissus sains.
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
As promised, a 'skeet' -orial on our paper published last week !
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Cell - a Cell Press journal @cp-cell.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Now online! Engineering TCR-controlled fuzzy logic into CAR T cells enhances therapeutic specificity
dlvr.it
Engineering TCR-controlled fuzzy logic into CAR T cells enhances therapeutic specificity
Robot-assisted analysis and theoretical modeling of TCR/CAR crosstalk enable the design of adoptive T cell therapies that maximize anti-tumor activity and minimize toxicity in healthy tissues.
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Reposted by François X. P. Bourassa
Paul Francois @pfrancois.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Delighted to share our herculean, collaborative paper, published online today in Cell ! In short, we circle from data to theory back to experiments to design a new anti-cancer immunotherapy. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Graphical Abstract of our paper : 
Highlights
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TCRs impact CARs across a continuum of antigens, from antagonism to enhancement
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Modeling of TCR/CAR crosstalk reveals ternary fuzzy logic in dual receptor activation
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Fuzzy logic produces an antagonism-enforced braking system (AEBS) in CAR T cells
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AEBS CAR T cells eradicate tumors with minimal toxicity against healthy human tissue
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