CV Science

Catherine Le Visage PhD Biomaterials - Regenerative Medicine - Drug delivery

Course and current status

2017-           Deputy Head. Regenerative Medicine and Skeleton (RMeS), U1229, Nantes, France

2013-           Research Director. Center for Osteoarticular and Dental Tissue Engineering, U791, Nantes, France

2007-2013    Research Scientist. National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Paris, France

2005-2007    Young Investigator Fellow. National Institute of Health and Medical Research, France 

2003-2005    Research Associate. Biomedical Engineering Dept, Johns Hopkins, USA, Advisor: Pr. K. Leong

2000-2003    Postdoctoral position. Biomedical Engineering Dept, Johns Hopkins, USA, Advisor: Pr. K. Leong

1996-1999    Ph.D. Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences. University Paris 11, France, Advisor: Pr. P. Couvreur 

Scientific summary

Catherine Le Visage (Inserm Research Director, 84 publications in ISI-indexed journals, h-index 36, 3400 total citations, 11 patents) is the Deputy Director of the Regenerative Medicine and Skeleton (RMeS) laboratory, headed by J. Guicheux at the University of Nantes, France (www.rmes.univ-nantes.fr). 

Her most recent works are focused on the development of innovative hydrogels as i) carriers of cells or bioactive molecules in the context of intervertebral disc disease and osteoarthritis and ii) tools for stem cell-based organogenesis (Web of Science profile: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/rid/E-5460-2011; Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FcCVIc0AAAAJ&hl=en)

She trained as a Pharmacist, joined the team of Prof. Patrick. Couvreur, at the Institut Galien-Paris Sud, and received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Technologies in 1999. She then performed a post-doctoral training in the Biomedical Engineering Department of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Baltimore, USA) in Prof. Kam Leong’s laboratory with a focus on focus on stem cells regenerative approaches for IVD. In 2007, she joined the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in a tenured position to investigate cross-linked polysaccharides hydrogels as a platform for regenerative medicine.

She currently coordinates 1 ANR on MSC-derived extracellular vesicles for IVD regeneration (EXCELLDISC, 2020-2024) and 1 Regional program on the design of novel hydrogels for intra-articular cell therapy of OA (SHELBY, 2018-2022). She has been a co-PI in multiple international and national grants on cell therapy and regenerative medicine, including the recent H2020 iPSpine project on IVD regeneration using iPS cells (2019-2023) and the France-Switzerland INDEED project on IVD bioprinting (2020-2024). She has coordinated a France-Singapore grant on nanopatterning for vascular engineering (NMVASC, 2011-2014) and an ERA-NET Euronanomed II grant on photocrosslinked hydrogels for guided tissue regeneration (POSTURE, 2015-2019). 

She has given >100 invited lectures/seminars at national and international conferences.