CV Science

VERONIQUE SGAMBATO PhD in Neuroscience

Course and current status

University studies

2011: HDR "Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches". (Degree necessary to supervise PhD students in France). University Claude Bernard Lyon I.

1998: PhD in Neuroscience, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI.

Professional experience

1995-1998: PhD under the supervision of Prof Jean-Michel Deniau in the laboratory of Prof Marie-Jo Besson. University Pierre et Marie Curie. Paris, FRANCE.

1999-2001: Post-PhD at NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Dir: Prof. Steven E. Hyman (Molecular Plasticity Section, NINDS).

2002: 2nd Post-Ph.D at Rockefeller University, New York City. Dir: Prof. Paul Greengard.

2003-2004: Tenured researcher at INSERM. Inserm U318, Grenoble, France. Dir: Prof. Alim-Louis Benabid.

2005-2008: Inserm U704 (Dir: Dr Marc Savasta) and then U836 (Dir: Prof. Claude Feuerstein), Grenoble, France.

2009-present : Institute of cognitive sciences Marc Jeannerod. UMR 5229 CNRS & University of Lyon 1. Bron, France.

Since January 1st, 2021: Team leader "Neuroplasticity in Parkinson's disease".

Research interests

Pathophysiology of basal ganglia; Clinical, pathophysiological and pharmacological  aspects of Parkinson's disease; Movement disorders; Behavioral disorders, prodromal and iatrogenic phases of Parkinson's disease. 

Scientific summary

My research formation started in 1993 when I was in Montreal. I was studying in the lab of Dr Réjean Couture at the university of Montreal, the effects of tachykinin agonists and antagonists on a nociceptive spinal reflex in the rat. My research formation continued when I performed my master 2 degree in Paris under the supervision of Prof Jean-Michel Deniau in the laboratory of Marie-Jo Besson. During this period I studied the effects of electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex on the expression of c-fos, an immediate early gene, in the basal ganglia on anaesthetized rat. During my PhD (September 1995 - December 1998), I did pursue the study of this experimental model to analyze molecular mechanisms (c-fos, zif268) of synaptic plasticity and signal transduction (MAP Kinases ERK, Elk-1 and CREB transcription factors) driven by electrical stimulation of the orofacial motor cortex with Dr Jocelyne Caboche. I then went to the NIH as a visiting fellow in the lab of Dr Steven E Hyman (was director of NIMH then Provost at Harvard) to characterize the expression and function of two new genes, ania-6 and ania-3, by molecular, cellular and biochemical approaches (1999-2002). I did perform a second post-doctoral training (2002) in the laboratory of Prof Paul Greengard (Nobel prize of medicine in 2000) at Rockefeller university in New York where I studied the role of DARPP-32 in the regulation of gene expression in response to cocaine in mice. I got an academic position at INSERM in 2003 and joined the laboratory of Prof Alim-Louis Benabid and then the Grenoble Insitute of Neuroscience in the team of Dr Marc Savasta. From 2003 to 2008, I did investigate the phenotypic plasticity of basal ganglia neurons in response to either deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus or levodopa treatment, the two major symptomatic treatments for Parkinson’s disease, by using rodent models and by combining behavioral and immunohistochemical approaches. In 2009, I moved to Lyon (Insitute of Cognitive Sciences Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229 CNRS & University of Lyon 1) to work on motor and non-motor symptoms of PD in non-human primates in the team of Dr Léon Tremblay. Since January 1st, 2021 I lead a research team on Parkinson's disease with both preclinical and clinical projects.