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DIsassembly-based Actin NEtwork contractility – Diane
Contraction of actin filament networks is a fundamental process for cells, and is widely conserved among eukaryotes. In addition to the well-known implication of the actin cytoskeleton for the contraction of muscle cells, contractile behaviors are also essential for many aspects of division and moti
TEMPORAL CONTROL OF EPIDERMAL GENE NETWORKS: A MULTISCALE INTEGRATIVE APPROACH – ChronoNet
A key problem of developmental biology is to understand what causes cells in a part of an embryo to regularly adopt a behavior, while neighboring cells concurrently adopt another. Good progresses have been made to understand how spatial patterns of gene expression are setup, and define which subsets
Control of cell size and division – CellSize
Our objectives were to determine how cell size is sensed and coupled with cell cycle progression and to study the crosstalk between cell mechanics and cell growth and cell cycle progression. Our studies have first defined new mechanisms operating in the Pom1/Cdr2 system that controls fission yeast c
Haematopoietic specification in the human embryo: toward de novo generation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells – ACEBLOOD
The continuous generation of blood cells throughout life relies on the existence of hematopoietic stem cells generated during embryogenesis. These cells are multipotent, capable of long-term self-renewal and can be transplanted to patients with inherited or acquired blood diseases. However, the avai
Dissection and modelling of the gene regulatory network responsible for patterning of the ectoderm of the sea urchin embryo: characterisation of novel regulators of dorsal-ventral axis formation upstream and downstream of Nodal. – Echinodal
The superfamily of TGF-ß ligands represents one of the most prominent families of morphogens. These factors have profound effects on many aspects of embryonic development, cell behaviour and homeostasis and malfunction of the pathways associated with these cytokines can lead to a variety of patholog
Myosin 1b and axonal development – AxoMyo
Despite notable advances over the past decades, understanding how axons are formed and how neuronal polarity is established remains a major challenge that requires interdisciplinary research. Substantial progresses have been made in understanding the role of microtubules and their associated motors
Optogating: A novel optogenetic method for the optical control of neuronal signaling – Optogating
One of the most recent and significant advances in neuroscience is optogenetics. The basic principle of this revolutionizing method enables non-invasive control of neuronal activity by light with exogenous microbial opsins or other ectopic photosensitive channels or receptors. Optogenetics provides
Coupling of microtubule dynamics to actin cytoskeleton remodelling by the Rho GEF Trio – MT-Trio
The crosstalk between actin cytoskeleton and microtubule (MT) dynamics is of extreme biological importance, given the fact that many biological processes rely on the correct coordination between these two networks. We have obtained recent experimental evidence suggesting the existence of a novel lin
Toward experimental endosymbiosis – Expendo
Metabolic integration of established endosymbionts into novel organelles, such as the mitochondrion or plastids, defines events of the outmost rarity that have had far reaching consequences in the forging of the first eukaryotes and of all their photosynthetic derivatives. While the endosymbiont the
Microbial perception during social behaviors – Bacterial sensing
For many years, bacteria have been considered very simple organisms mostly studied in the context of single cells. However, recent discoveries revealed the ability of bacteria to develop complex communities such as biofilms. The latter are multicellular structures that serve as protective habitat wh
Two different progenitors are responsible for establishing a functional T cell compartment: testing a new paradigm of T cell development – Twothyme
Lymphopenia after bone marrow (BM) transplantation severely impairs protection against infection for extended periods of time, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. With aging, the capacity to produce lymphocytes is diminished and increased numbers of memory cells are found in the peripheral ly
Plant epidermis responses to invading cells – Invader
The epidermis is the first cellular barrier in direct contact with the environment in both animal and plant organisms. In plants, the epidermis consists of a monolayer of cells that can take different shapes and thickness depending on the type of organ they cover. During pollination or infection wit
New multimodal methods for the real time investigation of single human macrophages at the nanoscale – MACRONANO
Podosomes were termed to illustrate their foot-like character in cells, thus suggesting their key role in migration. Sometimes termed invadosomes when present in cancer cells, these sub-micronique adhesion complexes represent a high potential pharmalogical target. Indeed podosomes in macrophages ca
Optical sectioning for 3D single-molecule based nanoscopy to follow morphogenetic processes – soSPIM
Developing the ability to image dynamically cellular structures in intact cells with nanometric resolution and in 3D would be a game changer achievement for many biological fields. We propose to pool the expertise of optical engineers, computer scientists and biophysicists with strong interest for c
Understanding how auxin signalling mechanisms drive leaf morphogenesis – SERRATIONS
The understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in the control of organ or body size and shape represents one of the main challenges in developmental biology. Plants and more specifically plant leaves exhibit interesting features for such purpose as they can exhibit a wide variety of shapes accor
Molecular mechanisms of cell lineage specification in the early mouse embryo – Prepispec
How a cell's identity is established and maintained remains a central question of Biology. The Prepispec project aims to study one of the best characterized example of cell specification in mammals, that of the acquisition of Epiblast (Epi) and Primitive Endoderm (PrE) identities within the Inner Ce
Biochemical and functional characterization of ER-plasma membrane contact sites mediated by a novel class of tethering proteins, the Extended-Synaptotagmins – ERPMcontactsLipidMetab
One of the hallmarks of eukaryotic cells is their internal membrane compartmentalization, fundamental to normal cell function. Many human diseases result from deregulation of pathways linking membrane-bound organelles. The best-studied mechanism of communication between organelles is vesicle-mediate
Digital Embryos: A quantitative geometric analysis of ascidian morphogenesis and its evolution – Dig-Em
Biodiversity on Earth results from the evolution of two types of developmental programs. Cell patterning and differentiation defines the cell types that are present in an organism. Morphogenesis controls the proper spatial organization of the various cell types. While patterning and cell differentia
Stem cells Architectures: How the spatial interactions of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells regulate their polarity and division. – STAR
The goal of our project is to tackle two major challenges in hematopoeitic stem cell (HSC) research and cell therapy, which are (i) understanding the complex and multiple interactions of HSC with their physiological niches that control their self-renewal and differentiation (ii) designing and genera
Maximizing force production from molecule to tissue – MaxForce
The mechanical force generated by the acto-myosin system is at the heart of a wide range of cellular processes including the establishment of cell polarity, cell migration, tissue integrity or morphogenesis during development. Disruptions of the force generation and of mechanical properties of livin
Interplay between biochemical signaling and mechanics during tissue polarization: a quantitative approach – InterPol
Cell and tissue polarities are essential for the functions of animals and their misregulations are often associated with pathologies. Several studies in animal models have identified molecules involved in tissue polarization. Especially, two types of global polarity cues have been suggested in recen
Molecular regulation of muscle stem cell aging by canonical Wnt signaling – MyoAge
Somatic stem cells (adult stem cells) are essential for homeostatic maintenance of various tissues. In addition to normal homeostasis, they are also involved in tissue regeneration in case of injury. Interestingly, adult stem cell function declines with age and this phenomenon limits tissue regener
Characterization of regulatory endosomes in dendritic and mast cells – ENDOREG
Dendritic cells and mast cells are myeloid cell populations with critical roles in normal and pathological immune responses and in inflammation. This project will characterize the regulatory role of a newly discovered class of endosomes in the biology and function of the two cell types. According to
Segregation of chromatin features in a single cell lineage – GenChroSeg
Asymmetric cell division is a prerequisite for cellular differentiation and stem cell maintenance. Phenotypic transformation during differentiation is a poorly understood epigenetic phenomenon, in which chromatin, as a transcriptional regulator, theoretically plays a role. The underlying assumption
Divisions with or without Centrosomes – DIVACEN
Centrosomes are the major microtubule organising centers (MTOCs) of animal cells. They increase the efficiency of spindle assembly during cell division and through the nucleation of astral MTs influence spindle positioning. Defects in centrosome number are associated with a variety of diseases such