Scientific topics
Keywords
Luc Dupuis research director, INSERM
Course and current status
Current Position :
from 2013: research director at Inserm.
Previous Positions:
2010: Mercator professor in the department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Germany
2001-2005: Assistant professor at the University Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg), in charge of the students preparing diplomas for teaching capacities (CAPET-Agrégation biochimie génie biologique). 400 hours of teaching per year in biochemistry, microbiology, human physiology and physiopathology
2003-2004: postdoctoral fellowship (3 one-month stays); Instituto de Investigaciones Biologicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo (Uruguay)
Scientific summary
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterised by the progressive degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. We and others have shown that besides motor neuron degeneration, ALS is associated with several defects in energy metabolism, including weight loss, hypermetabolism, and hyperlipidaemia. Most of these abnormalities correlate with duration of survival, and available clinical evidence supports a negative contribution of defective energy metabolism to the overall pathogenic process. Our current research focuses on (1) understanding the mechanistic basis of these metabolic abnormalities by the use of multiple transgenic models, and (2) characterizing the energy metabolism defects in ALS patients, with the aim of better defining potential therapeutic interventions.
