CV Science

Alexandra Gros PhD Neuroscience

Course and current status

2019 - 2022: Post-doctoral researcher - CNES, Institut des maladies neurodégénératives, Bordeaux, France

                          Writer for the Neuroscience CNRS blog "Aux frontières du cerveau" (https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/nos-blogs/aux-frontieres-du-cerveau)

2018 - 2019: Post-doctoral researcher - Labex Cortex, University Lyon 1 (CRNL), Lyon, France

                          Writer for the Neuroscience CNRS blog "Aux frontières du cerveau" (https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/nos-blogs/aux-frontieres-du-cerveau)

2016 - 2018: Post-doctoral researcher - The university of Edinburgh (CCBS), UK

                     Writer for the Neuroscience CNRS blog "Aux frontières du cerveau" (https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/nos-blogs/aux-frontieres-du-cerveau)

2015 - 2016: Post-doctoral researcher - Neuroscience Paris-Saclay Institute (NeuroPSI) / CNRS, France

2015: PhD student in Neuroscience - University Paris-Sud / Neuroscience Paris-Saclay Institute (NeuroPSI), France -  "Neurogenèse adulte hippocampique : Rôle fonctionnel dans la mémoire épisodique et recrutement des nouveaux neurones lors de la mémorisation" - Thesis directors: Dr. Serge Laroche and Dr. Alexandra Veyrac

Scientific summary

Field of expertise

• Hippocampal adult neurogenesis
• Neuronal plasticity
  
• Behavior including spatial, episodic and everyday spatial memory
  
• Immunochemistry
• In situ hybridization (catFISH)
• Immediate early gene, Zif268
• Animal Well-being
• In vivo electrophysiology
  

Research

During my PhD, I studied the role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in long term episodic memory using a new episodic memory task based on the presentation of occasional episodes allowing rats to encode “What – Where – In which context” information. Using irradiation, we showed that adult hippocampal neurogenesis contributes significantly to the consolidation and faithful recall of episodic memory. Furthermore, we showed that the immediate-early gene, Zif268, plays a crucial role in the selection and recruitment of newborn hippocampal neurons by learning during their critical period of integration in hippocampal neural networks.

During my post-doc at Edinburgh, I studied hippocampal neuronal network involved in behavioral taging and capture phenomenom in an appetitive spatial delayed-matching-to place task, similar to daily experience in humans. Moreover, I explored how the neuronal mechanisms change during normal aging.

During my post-doc at Lyon, I studied the very long-term retention of episodic memories and the brain areas involved in these memory process. Moreover, I explored the impact of reactivation during memory consolidation and memory-modulating event before memory encoding on long-term memory retentio.