Scientific topics
Keywords
Pascal LOYER PhD Cellular and Molecular Biology
Course and current status
EDUCATION:
- Ph.D. Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Rennes (France), Mentor C. Guillouzo, Ph.D., 1993
- Habilitation à Diriger la Recherche (HDR), University of Rennes 1, January 2007
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
- Postdoctoral Fellow (Mentor V.J. Kidd, Ph.D.), 1994-1996, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
- INSERM investigator (Chargé de Recherche 2eme classe, CR2), January 1996, INSERM Unit 522
- INSERM promotion (Chargé de Recherche 1ère classe, CR1), January 2000, INSERM Unit 522
- Visiting scientist (Détachement INSERM), St Jude Research Hospital, Memphis TN, USA (Laboratory of Dr. V. Kidd and Jill Lahti), March 2002- February 2005
- INSERM UMR 991, January 2010-
HONORS AND AWARDS:
- Travel fellowship, American Association for the Study of the Liver Diseases, 1993, Airlie, Virginia, USA.
- Postdoctoral fellowship from St Jude Research Hospital, 1994-1996, Memphis Tennessee, USA.
- 1994 Drieux-Chollet prize winner, Académie Nationale de Médecine, Paris.
- Travel fellowship, International Society of Differentiation (ISD), October 1997, Pisa, Italy
Scientific summary
During his Ph.D. training (INSERM U49, Hôpital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France) and as a junior INSERM investigator (INSERM U522, Hôpital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France), Pascal Loyer has mainly focused on liver homeostasis and the study of cell cycle and apoptosis in hepatocytes. His work has contributed establishing that hepatocyte cell cycle is controlled by cytokines and growth factors, respectively, in G0/G1 transition and in late G1 at a mitogen-dependent restriction point. In addition, Pascal Loyer has demonstrated that the cyclin dependent kinase CDK1 is active in S phase, suggesting its role during DNA replication. This data was controversial at the time of its publication, but it now fits into the general picture of the cell cycle regulation. This work was carried out through a collaboration with Dr L. MEIJER’s group (Partner 1). Dr. Loyer has also contributed to the identification of new survival pathways in hepatocytes involving the glutathione S transferase proteins. These proteins functionally interact with the Apoptosis Signal-regulating protein Kinase (ASK1) and are induced during liver regeneration and oxidative stress.
During his post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Drs. V. Kidd and J. Lahti (Memphis, USA, from 1994 to 1996), he has discovered the interaction between the splicing factor RNPS1 and CDK11p110, thereby establishing for the first time a link between a CDK and the splicing machinery.
As a visiting scientist in Dr. J. Lahti’s group (2002 to 2005), he has shown that at least four CDK11p110/cyclin L complexes are found in human cells and that ectopic expression of L-type Cyclins alone or in combination with CDK11p110 strongly affects constitutive and alternative splicing activity. He has also identified a novel RNA Binding Motif protein, RBM15B, that co-immunoprecipitates with CDK11p110/cyclin L, SR proteins, HDACs and the transcriptional co-repressor NcoR.
As a group leader, the current research project of Pascal Loyer is to determine the role of CDK11p110, cyclin L and RBM15B proteins in the regulation of alternative splicing in normal liver and hepatocarcinomas. He is also co-founder of a core-facility named SynNanoVect ("Production de vecteurs de synthèse et vectorisation de bio-molécules"www.synnanovect.ueb.eu) dedicated to the delivery of bio-molecules in specific target cells. This plate-form mainly provides reagents and equipement for transfecting cell in vitro and in vivo.
