CV Science

Alfonso Represa MD, PhD

Course and current status

Education

1978                Master degree on Medicine. University of Valladolid (Spain).

1982                Degree on Pediatrics.  University of Valladolid (Spain).

1983                MD degree University of Valladolid (Spain).

1990                PhD degree on Neuroscience. University Paris-VI (France).

1999                Habilitation à diriger des recherches. University ParisV (France)

 Research experience

1980-87          Assistant and associated professor. Department of Anatomy, University of Valladolid (Spain).

1984-85          Post-doc position, Department of Pharmacology, Roussel Uclaf, Romainville (France).

1985-86          Post-doc position. Laboratoire de physiologie nerveusse du CNRS. Gif sur Yvette. (France)

1987-88          Post-doc position, INSERM U29, Paris (France).

1988-96          Chargé de Recherches (permanent position), INSERM U29, Paris (France).

1996-97          Sabbatical and visiting scientist. Department of Anatomy, (S. Weiss lab), University of Calgary (Canada).

2001 to date   Directeur de Recherches 2^ème clase (permanent position), INMED, Marseilles (France).

Present position

Director of the INMED (Mediterranean institute of neurobiology), Luminy, Marseille, France (http://www.inmednet.fr)

Head of the team Cortical development disorders and epilepsy (codirection with C Cardoso)

Scientific summary

My activities can be declined in two sections: 1) INMED institute projetc and 2) team project

1) INMED is a research institute of the INSERM and the University of Aix-Marseille investigating the development and plasticity of the brain and the pathologies of brain development. INMED is also an active centre of scientific training and dissemination (training of students, participation on Luminy teaching, organization of congress and schools and more remarkably through the association "All Researchers" who proposes new forms of teaching science through experimentation to high school students and general public.

The Institute includes today 12 teams and 2 AVENIR groups which propose a coordinated project aimed to analyze neuronal network development and pathology covering mainly: 1) neuronal migration and differentiation, synaptogenesis and activity maturation and 2) developmental disruptions linked to epilepsy, mental delay and other cognitive alterations. Our approaches are integrated on a physiological prospect and covered a large variety of preparations and relevant animal models, using the more advanced technologies.

2) Our team investigates Malformations of Cortical Development (MCDs) which are important causes of mental retardation and account for 20-40% of drug-resistant childhood epilepsy. We conduct integrated multidisciplinary studies involving morphologists, molecular biologists and electrophysiologists. In addition, we have established collaborations with clinicians and geneticists (European EPICURE project) providing us with a transversal appreciation of our researches. 

We concentrate our efforts on:

[1] the identification of new genes and molecular actors involved in normal migration processes and being altered on MCDs;

[2] a better understanding of the link between genotype and phenotype, and of the process leading to an abnormal migration pattern;

[3] the characterization of the physiopathological mechanisms responsible for epileptogenesis in MCDs, in order to precisely identify the seizure-generating zone, to describe its properties and the mechanisms of seizure generation, and to ultimately suggest new therapeutic approaches.