CV Science

Christine Baldeschi Assitant professor, PhD

Course and current status

Course and current status

2011: Habilitation à diriger des recherches. Université d'Evry val d'Essonne.

2006- Assistant professor at the university of Evry Val d'Essonne. Team leader of the Genodermtoses group at I-Stem, INSERM U861.

-2005-2006: Post doctoral training in Pr Frame Margaret team, Beaston Institut for Cancer Research à Glasgow, UK.

2000-2004: PhD student working on the gene therapy of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, INSERM U634 "Biology and physiopathology of the skin", dir. Guerrino Meneguzzi. Nice Sophia-Antipolis University.

-1998-2000: Graduate Student, Nice Sophia-Antipolis University.

Scientific summary

Epidermis, the upper layer of the skin is mainly composed of keratinocytes and melanocytes organized to form a physical/chemical barrier at the interface of the environment. These two types of cells play a major role in the fate of healthy skin and are largely studied in order to understand molecular mechanisms involved in skin homeostasis or in wound repair. Some of diseases associated to genetic mutations or not could weaken this protection and lead to the disruption of skin integrity. Access to an unlimited source of pluripotent stem cells derived either from pre-implantation genetic diagnosed embryo or reprogramming from patients somatic cells should offer an alternative for cell therapy and pathological modeling of epidermal damage. We developed successful and robust protocols which is based upon replication in vitro of the successive ontogenetic stages leading to formation of the epidermis. This protocol of differentiation generates first a homogenous population of keratinocytes and melanocytes with high proliferative capacity. Once seeded on an artificial matrix and either grown in vitro or else transplanted in immunodeficient mice, these cells form a melanised pluristratified epidermis that exhibits normal human characteristics.

The establishment of these both sequential protocols allowing the generation of pure and functional population of keratinocytes and melanocytes, may provide 1) A cell therapy product to treat epidermis damage. 2) Key cellular tools allowing understanding pathological mechanisms implicated in genodermatoses for the screening of pharmacological compounds to identify new therapeutic strategies.