Martin Pelletier
Master's degree in experimental health sciences (2001)
Doctorate in virology and immunology (2006)
Professor-researcher, CRCHU de Québec-Université Laval
“For me, science is like magic: it takes passion, repetition and the result brings so much satisfaction!”
It was almost by chance that Martin Pelletier discovered INRS: “I was lucky enough to come across a poster where Professor Denis Girard, a new young research professor at INRS at the time, was looking to recruit trainees and graduate students.” It was love at first sight for the laboratory, the research topic, and the professor's human approach. That summer internship was to mark the start of an exceptional career.
Martin first completed a master's degree in experimental health sciences, during which he studied the effects of chemicals of environmental concern on neutrophils, cells of the immune system. D. in virology and immunology, again under the supervision of Pr. Denis Girard, where he studied the mechanisms of neutrophil activation in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. This work resulted in seventeen scientific publications, including nine as first author, and twice earned him the Academic Gold Medal of the Governor General of Canada.
This path to excellence was nurtured by an outstanding mentoring relationship. “I was lucky enough to be supervised by a benevolent research director who took his students' success to heart”, he confides. An approach he now values in his own laboratory. Beyond the scientific rigor, Martin retains from his years at INRS the importance of human ties: “The encounters and friendships I developed during my time at INRS are among my fondest memories.”
Like many others, he has also faced the challenges of higher education. But he has learned one fundamental lesson: perseverance. “For me, science is like magic: it takes passion, repetition and the result brings so much satisfaction!”
After INRS, Martin did his first postdoctoral training at the University of Verona, Italy, where he studied neutrophil-immune cell interactions, before joining the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA. There, he developed cutting-edge expertise in the measurement of bioenergetic parameters in primary immune cells in a clinical context. Since 2014, he has been a research professor at Université Laval, where he leads a team funded by CIHR and NSERC. His laboratory studies energy metabolism and cell activation in various contexts: immune, environmental and autoimmune. He also acts as director of graduate programs in microbiology-immunology, training a new generation of scientists in a caring and stimulating environment.
His time at INRS laid the foundations not only for his research program, but also for a network of invaluable collaborations. “I developed a passion for immunology and especially for the neutrophil, a cell of the immune system that is unfortunately somewhat neglected by immunologists”, he points out. It's a thread that still guides him today.
To current students, Martin recommends “finding a research topic you're passionate about”, maintaining good relations with all the staff at the research center, and above all, thinking about yourself. “It's important to know how to pick up the phone when it's time.”
As for his hopes for the future, they reflect his commitment to science: humane and visionary. “It's vital to develop more individualized clinical tests that will guide doctors towards the right therapeutic options,” he says. Truly personalized medicine that meets the unique needs of each patient, particularly in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases: this is the goal he is pursuing with determination.
An inspiring career, rooted in a passion for understanding and improving human health.
[Interviewed in april 2025.]