CV Science

ARMELLE RANCILLAC Research Scientist at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), CRCN – INSERM

Course and current status

Armelle Rancillac obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from Paris VI in 2003, under the supervision of Francis Crépel, where she was the first to describe multiple forms of synaptic plasticity between stellate cells and parallel fibers in cerebellar slices using patch-clamp recordings.

She then joined Jean Rossier’s laboratory at ESPCI as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate neurovascular coupling in the cerebellum. Her research revealed that the stimulation of stellate cells elicit local vasodilation, whereas thoose of Purkinje cells induce a constriction in nearby blood vessels.

In 2006, she obtained a permanent researcher position at Inserm and turned her focus to the vasomotor control of intracortical blood vessels by different interneuron subpopulations. Using patch-clamp, RT-PCR, videomicroscopy, and Neurolucida reconstructions, she delineated the distinct roles of these interneuron types in mediating neurovascular coupling within the mouse somatosensory cortex.

From 2011 to 2015, she explored how metabolic factors shape neuronal activity and vascular tone in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO), a critical region for regulating non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. She received her Habilitation de Drive Research (HDR) in 2014.

Currently, in the Rouach team at the Collège de France, Dr. Rancillac investigates how neuron–glia interactions contribute to regulating NREM sleep in the VLPO.

Scientific summary

With a background in electrophysiology, Armelle Rancillac began her research by using patch-clamp recordings on brain slices to study the functional properties and plasticity of glutamatergic synapses between parallel fibers and stellate cells in the cerebellum. She was the first to describ and characterize multiple forms of synaptic plasticity at this specific connection, an important discovery that shed new light on the mechanisms underlying motor learning in the cerebellum.

She later turned her focus to exploring the role of stellate cells in neurovascular coupling. At the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Cellular Diversity at ESPCI ParisTech, she combined patch-clamp electrophysiology with amperometry to show that stellate cells and Purkinje cells can respectively dilate or constrict surrounding blood vessels. In collaboration with a team in electrochemistry, she was able to quantify the release of nitric oxide (NO) following the targeted stimulation of a single stellate cell, linking this release to vasodilatory effects.

Armelle Rancillac then directed her attention to the diversity of cortical interneurons—examining their electrophysiological, molecular, anatomical, and functional characteristics. Using various advanced techniques, she sought to better understand the unique roles of these highly heterogeneous cell populations in the brain. Her research extended into neurodegenerative disease, where she used a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease to demonstrate that neuronal death, rather than a solely vascular issue, may underlie early neurovascular uncoupling observed in the condition.

From 2011 onward, she explored the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for triggering and maintaining slow-wave sleep. Given that sleep disorders affect a significant portion of the population, her work in this area addresses a major public health issue. Within the Sleep Neural Networks team at ESPCI ParisTech, she investigated how glucose concentration influences sleep-regulating neurons. She discovered that elevated glucose levels cause dilation of blood vessels in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO), while also activating neurons that promote slow-wave sleep.

In 2015, she joined the Collège de France within the Neuroglial Interactions in Cerebral Physiopathology laboratory, head by Nathalie Rouach, where she has focused on the role of interactions between neurons and glial cells in regulating slow-wave sleep. She has also investigated the role of adenosine in this regulation, highlighting its relationship to metabolic activity and its synergistic role with Prostaglandin D2 in activating sleep-promoting neurons through astrocytic release.