CV Science

Evelyne Bloch-Gallego Development

Course and current status

EDUCATION

March 2003         “Diplome d’Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches” University Paris7.

January 1993:         "Thèse de doctorat" (Ph.D) at the University of Montpellier II.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:

2003-            Group leader at Institut Cochin, INSERM U. 1016, Paris.

Research topic: “Guidance factors and intracellular reorganisations during neuronal migrations”

1996-2003   Leading an independent topic at U.106, Paris

                    Group leader: C. Sotelo 

Research topic:         “Role of the floor-plate in the migration of precerebellar neurons"     

1993-1996 :          Post-doc, INSERM U. 106, Paris             

                             Group leader: R.M. Alvarado-Mallart (Dir. C. Sotelo)

Research topic: "Analyis of the plasticity of the prosencephalon through the use of chick-quail chimera."      

1989-1993:           PhD, CNRS URA1414, Paris: CRBM, Montpellier, France.  

                             Supervisor: A.Prochiantz/C. Henderson

Research Topic:           "Development of the embryonic  spinal motoneuron:                                           survival and differentiation in vitro"

POSITIONS:

January 2010-: co-director of the Dpt Genetics and Development

December 2005 - :         Staff scientist Dir. Recherche 2, INSERM

March 1993-Dec 2005: Staff scientist Chargée de Recherche, INSERM, France.

Sept.1991-92:             Fellow, AFM (Association Francaise contre les Myopathies)

Sept. 1988-91:             Allocataire de recherche, Ministère de la Recherche et de la Technique

AWARDS, GRANTS

2007: Contrat d’Interface INSERM/AP-HP (translational research career award)

2002 AVENIR Program for the promotion of young researchers (Career Development award). INSERM, Paris, France

2002-2005: Action Concertée Incitative- Jeunes Chercheurs du Ministère de la Recherche et des technologies.

Scientific summary

The team « Development and neuronal migration » has set up in Cochin Institute in July 2003, when supported by an « Avenir » award by INSERM.

We study molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in both normal and pathological development of the central nervous system, with a special care for abnormal neuronal migrations during embryogenesis and motoneuronal degenerescences in various mutant mice.

Our research aims consist in :

- studying diffusible factors that direct axon outgrowth and neuronal migration.

- studying intracellular reorganizations that are associated with the various steps of neuronal migration, including axon extension, nuclear translocation and mature organization of neuronal pools, during the development of the central nervous system.

A special care is devoted to intracellular reorganizations that are associated with the settlement of precerebellar neurons (involved in motor learning) and bulbar motoneurons, as well as with motoneuronal degenerescence (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – ALS - and Spinal Muscular Atrophy – SMA).

Studies developed in our team lays at the interface between developmental neurobiology and cell biology.

We had previously shown that various RhoGTPases are involved either in nuclear translocation and oriented outgrowth of axons(i.e Rho/ROCK pathway), or in axon outgrowth (Rac1). Moreover, In the growth cone, we propose that tubulin tyrosination takes part in the relative arrangement of actin and MT cytoskeletons, in the regulation of small GTPases activity, and consequently, in the proper morphogenesis, organization and pathfinding of the growth cone during development. Studies that are currently developed in the team are focused on the one hand on further characterizing the targets of RhoGTPases in neuronal migration, and on characterizing the role of atypic small GTPases. We also analyze the role of microtubule associated proteins in the development of motoneurons.