CV Science

Florence Beranger PhD Molecular and Cellular Biology /HDR

Course and current status

Professionnal experience:

2020-actuel : Grant Office Manager, Institut des Neurosciences de Montpellier,  Montpellier

2017-2020 : Scientific Attachée, Montréal, Consulat général de France de Quebec, Canada

2011-2017 : In charge of the valorization, Neurocampus, Bordeaux

2007-2011 : Director Inserm-USA Office and Scientic Attache for Science and Technology, Embassy of France, Washington DC, USA

1998-2007: Senior scientist, Institut de Génétique Humaine, Montpellier

1995-1998 : Senior scientist, Institut Curie, Paris

1994 : Tenure senior scientist position (CR1) at INSERM

1993-1995 : Post-Doc at University of California, Berkeley, USA - Dept of molecular and cellular biology- Laboratory directed by Thomas Cline

1981-1993: Technician and Ingenieur d'Etudes at INSERM  (Institut Curie, Paris)

Education (University Degrees):

2005 : Habilitation à Diriger la Recherche (H.D.R., Univ. Montpellier 2)

1993 : PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology -Université Paris 7)

1989 : Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies (D.E.A.) de Virologie (Université Paris 7, Institut Pasteur)

1988 : Maitrise de Biochimie, Université Paris 7

1987 : Licence de Biochimie, Université Paris 7

1981 : BTS Analyses Biologiques, Ecole Nationale de Chimie, Physique, Biologie de Paris

1979: Baccalauréat D

Scientific summary

My scientific research focused mainly on the study of the influence of the intracellular localization of a given protein (Ras, Sox, Prion) on its biological activity. During my PhD studies, I showed that complex lipid posttranslational modifications and well-defined protein areas of oncogenic Ras family influenced their intracellular localization and their biological activities.
My post-doc at the University of Berkeley in California  allowed me to get training in developmental genetics and led me to study, upon my return to France, the process of muscle differentiation regulation, and led to the identification of a new gene, Sox15, located in the nucleus, required for muscle repair and acting very early in embryogenesis, upstream of MyoD. Following this work, I  used my knowledge in intracellular trafficking to study the mechanisms of formation, in neuronal cells, of the abnormal form of the prion protein involved in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. This work allowed me to study the mechanisms of neurotoxicity induced by forms of prion protein localized at different intracellular compartments, and  to develop research on  potentially therapeutic molecules against prion diseases.

During my scientific career, I developed  multidisciplinary research projects (oncology, immunology, developmental biology, neurobiology) and established national and international interdisciplinary collaborations within European programs. In 2007, I choose to reorient my career to use these skills to the benefit of the scientific policy of Inserm.