CV Science

Cyril Herry Ph.D. Neuroscience & Pharmacology

Course and current status

Education

1995-1996: Equivalent Bachelor Degree, University of Bordeaux II, France.

1996-1997: Equivalent Master Degree, University of Bordeaux II, France.

1998-1999: Diploma in Neuroscience & Pharmacology, University of Bordeaux I

1999-2002: Ph.D. Neuroscience & Pharmacology, University of Bordeaux I

Professional experience

2002-2003: Postdoctoral Research Assistant,  Dept of Physiology, Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto-Rico (laboratory  of Prof. G. Quirk laboratory)

2003-2008: Postdoctoral Research Assistant Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland (laboratory of Prof. A. Lüthi)

2009-2010: INSERM Young Researcher Tenure Track position, Neurocentre Magendie, Bordeaux, France.

2010: CR1 Assistant Professor. Tenure Permanent Position, Neurocentre Magendie, Bordeaux, France.

2012- : Team Leader "Neuronal circuits of associative learning" group, Neurocentre Magendie, Bordeaux, France.

Membership of Professional Societies

The French Society for Neuroscience

The Swiss Society for Neuroscience

The American Society for Neuroscience

Fundings

2011-2016: ERC Starting Grant, NEUROFEAR, PI

2011-2014: ANR-BLANC NEURORELAPS, CO PI

2012-2014: LabEx BRAIN-TRAIL-TRANSFEAR, PI

2012-2015: Aquitaine Regional Council grant, PI

2012-2016: ANR-BLANC DARLING, CO PI

2013-2016: ANR ERA-NET NEURON, COCADDIC, CO-PI

Scientific summary

During my PhD, I studied the role of the medial prefrontal cortex during extinction of conditioned fear in mice using a combination of behavioral, immunohistochemical and electrophysiological approaches. This project aimed at identifying the neuronal substrates implicated in the consolidation of extinction and this work showed for the first time electrophysiological evidence of a specific role of prefrontal plasticity in the inhibition of fear responses during consolidation of extinction. I then switched my research during my postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Pr. Andreas Luthï to study the role of the amygdala in the acquisition of extinction. There, I successfully implanted and developed the technique of long lasting single unit recordings in behaving animals and was able to identify distinct amygdala neuronal populations selectively implicated in the behavioral transition between high and low fear states. My doctoral and postdoctoral studies gave rise to 17 international publications in peer reviewed journals. In 2010, I was recruited at the assistant professor level at INSERM in the Neurocentre Magendie in Bordeaux directed by Pier-Vincenzo Piazza. In 2011 I was awarded a prestigious ERC starting grant (1500000 euros) that allowed me to set up my laboratory in the Neurocenter Magendie. My laboratory is now composed of 13 people who have an extended expertise in behavioral, electrophysiological and molecular approaches ranging from in vivo extracellular recording, behavior, pharmacology and genetic approaches at the level of the amygdala-prefrontal pathway. My laboratory long-term project in this institute is to identify, label and manipulate the neuronal circuits underlying fear behavior to ultimately develop new therapeutic strategies for pathologies involving abnormal associative encoding such as post-traumatic stress disorders and related psychiatric conditions.