CV Science

OLIVIA FROMIGUE PhD Biology

Course and current status

2023-... : Senior Researcher (Chargee de Recherche hors classe), Inserm Unit 981 & University Paris Saclay, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France.

2013-2023 : Researcher (Chargee de Recherche classe 1), Inserm Unit 981 & University Paris Saclay, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France.

2008-2012 : Researcher (Chargee de Recherche classe 1), Inserm Unit 606 & University Denis Diderot, Paris (France).

2003-2008 : Research Associate, Inserm Unit 606 & University Denis Diderot, Paris (France).

2000-2003 : Research Associate, Inserm Unit 526 & University Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Nice (France).

1998-2000 : Research Associate, Laboratory of Endocrinology and Bone Metabolism, Jules Bordet Institute, Free University of Brussels (Belgium).

1994-1997 : Ph.D student, University Paris VII, Ph.D speciality Biology of Aging, Inserm Unit 349, Paris (France). 

Scientific summary

For my PhD, I was interested in promoting osteogenic potential and studying the effect of some combinations of different cytokines and hormones on the proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation capacities of human mesenchymal stromal cells, derived from adult bone marrow stroma.

Then, as a research fellow in the Tumors Center of the University of Brussels, I oriented my research towards the interactions between normal osteoblastic cells and metastatic mammary cancer cells. Indeed, bone tissue is the main target site for breast cancer metastases where it causes osteolysis without compensating osteoformation reaction. I also highlighted for the first time the anti-tumor effects of bisphosphonates on breast cancer cells.

I then joined the Inserm Unit 526 in Nice to investigate in details the interactions between epithelial tumor cells and their normal microenvironment. Taking advantage of the establishment of the genomic platform of Sophia-Antipolis, I performed comparative transcriptomic analyses in a model of co-culture of normal fibroblasts and lung cancer cells recently developped in the lab'. I thus identified some news genes potentially involved in the early phase of tumorigenesis. One of them (encoding stromelysin 3/MMP11) was better characterized (paracrine activity, promoter regulation...).

I next joined the team "Biology and Pathology of Osteoblasts" in Inserm Unit 606 in Paris, to develop two main goals : (1) identify new target genes/gene products in order to promote bone regeneration using cellular engineering of mesenchymal stromal precursor cells and (2) identify new target genes/gene products in order to reduce tumorigenesis especially in the primary bone tumors (osteosarcoma).

I finaly joined the team "Identification of molecular predictors and new targets for cancer treatment" in Inserm Unit 981, located in the Gustave Roussy Institute (Villejuif, France), to deepen the role of some molecular targets in osteosarcoma, and other cancer types. It will allow the identification of therapeutic tools against metastatic part or chemoresistance, and thus establishment of preclinical and translational researches.