Bertrand Joseph is a cell and molecular biologist by education. Over the years, his team has been working in several fields of research from the investigations of the cell death signaling pathways to the molecular mechanism controlling cell differentiation. In addition, these investigations were performed in various models of human diseases ranging from cancers to neurodegenerative disorders. BJ discovered that autophagy is regulated by epigenetics and contributed to the concept of histone onco-modification. BJ also uncovered a role for killer caspases in microglia pro-inflammatory and tumor-supporting phenotypes and contributed to the understanding of the transcriptional/epigenetic regulation of microglial activation states and the possibility to reprogram microglia toward distinct phenotypes.