CV Science

Jérôme Collignon PhD Developmental Biology

Course and current status

2007-present   Group leader (DR2 INSERM). Regulation of cell fate specification team. “Molecular and cellular bases of early cell fate specification in the mouse”. Institut Jacques Monod, Paris France.

2000 - 2007    Group leader (CR1 CNRS).  Development of vertebrates team. “AP axis establishment and early regionalisation of the mouse embryo”. Institut Jacques Monod, Paris France.

1996 - 1999    Research fellow in the team of Prof A. Lumsden. “Early influences on craniofacial development”. Dept. of Developmental Neurobiology, King’s College London, Londres, UK.

1993 - 1996    Post-doctoral fellow in the team of Prof. L. Robertson. ”Role of Nodal in LR asymmetry and AP axis formation”. Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.

1988 - 1992    PhD student in the team of Dr R. Lovell-Badge. “Sex-determination and early mouse development”, NIMR, London, UK

1982 - 1988    Undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at University Paris 11 and Genetics at University Paris 6,

Scientific summary

Thanks to technological advances of the past 30 years we are beginning to understand the molecular basis of lineage specification in the early mammalian conceptus. It has been shown in the mouse, the animal model of choice, that all major signalling pathways are involved. These pathways are the same that ensure the maintenance and the renewal of tissues later in life, functions that place them at the centre of many pathological situations. The study of their implication and interplay during early developmental events, when the organism is still relatively simple, is therefore particularly relevant to our understanding of their functions in later, more complex, contexts.
My aim is to explain how, in the developing mouse embryo, seemingly identical cells adopt different identities in a coordinated fashion. I focus on Nodal, a signalling molecule that plays important roles during development. Nodal is a TGFβ family member signalling via the Smad2/3 pathway, also known as the Activin/Nodal signalling pathway. The Nodal gene is required for the establishment of the anterior-posterior and left-right axes. It is also required for the specification and maintenance of various cell identities, both in embryonic and extra-embryonic lineages. People in my team use genetics, imaging, embryo culture and cultured pluripotent stem cells to study all aspects of Nodal regulation and function during early cell-fate decisions.