Developmental Biology Department Activity Report
Director : Philip Avner philip.avner@pasteur.fr
Presentation
The overarching aim of the Developmental Biology Department is to increase our understanding of the functioning of multicellular organisms and how the adult organism develops from the fertilised egg. Within this overall aim, three main areas of research are being developed, those centred around developmental genetics, those centred on organogenesis, cellular interactions and homeostasis, and those centred on epigenetic regulation and the notion of developmental and biological plasticity. Research within these areas whilst principally centred around the mouse, also involves Drosophila, zebrafish, human and amphioxus.
Currently the Developmental Biology Department is composed of 7 full Units, 2 contractual Units (Unités Postulantes), 1 five year Group and 1 laboratory on a two year contract. The Transgenesis Platform and the Central Animal Facilities are also attached to the Department.
The Department is housed in three different buildings and attached to three different administrative sites. The research interests of the Department are summarised below :
|
Head |
Research topic |
Key words |
|
Antoniewski Christophe |
Drosophila genetics and epigenetics (G5) |
Chromatin, RNA silencing, microRNAs |
|
Avner Philip |
Mouse molecular genetics (U) |
X inactivation, Epigenetics, Multifactioral Genetics |
|
Buckingham Margaret |
Molecular genetics of development (U) |
Myogenesis, Pax genes, cardiogenesis |
|
Herbomel Philippe |
Macrophages and development of immunity (U) |
Developmental hematopoiesis and innate immunity in zebrafish |
|
Langa Vives Francina |
Mouse genetics engineering center |
Transgenic mouse service |
|
McElreavey Kenneth |
Genetics of Human Development (U) |
Y chromosome, sex determination, infertility |
|
Montagutelli Xavier |
Central mouse facilities |
Mouse genetics |
|
Muchardt Christian |
Epigenetic regulation (Up) |
Chromatin
|
|
Nicolas Jean-François |
Molecular biology of development (U) |
Cellular basis of development |
|
Panthier Jean-Jacques |
Functional mouse genetics (Up) |
Genetic susceptibility, Infectious diseases, Notch signalling |
|
Pontoglio Marco
|
Gene expression, development and diseases (Lab) |
Gene expression, developmental diseases |
|
Robert Benoît |
Molecular Genetics of Morphogenesis (U) |
Msx genes, limb development / CNS |
|
Schweisguth François |
Genetics of Drosophila Development (U) |
Signalling, development |
|
Tajbakhsh Shahragim |
Stem cells and development (U) |
Molecular & cellular regulation of muscle stem cells |
Noteable events in 2008
In 2008 the Department hosted 22 seminars by distinguished speakers, under its Departmental Seminar Programme, of which many from abroad. Two of the invited speakers were on sabbaticals in the Department during 2008 :
- Kenneth PAIGEN (The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor-Maine, USA), whose sabbatical (12th November 2008-12th December 2008) was supported by a grant from the Fulbright Foundation.
- Beverly PAIGEN (The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor-Maine, USA), (12th November 2008-12th December 2008)
The Department also organised as part of its Technology Update Series a half day meeting entitled : "Recent Progress in Mouse Genetics and Mutation", 16th June 2008
The annual scientific retreat of the Department took place at the Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti in Rome, between the 9th and 11th of June. The retreat was highly successful both in reinforcing the dynamics of the Department and in consolidating ongoing collaborations and stimulating the initiation of others with our Italian colleagues.
In order to stimulate scientific exchange in the Department, the Department restarted its Journal Club programme in the summer. Five Journal Club lunches were held in 2008. A Developmental Club, organised by the students, has also been started and is increasingly successful in attracting participants. Lastly coordination between heads of the Groups and Units has been improved by a semi-regular programme of lunchtime talks/presentations between colleagues.
Scientifically 2008 was a satisfactory year for the Department, which has continued to be well represented on the international scene, for example, in EU programmes. Its research entities are internationally competitive and several of them are amongst world leaders in their speciality.
Publications
Carré C, Ciurciu A, Komonyi O, Jacquier C, Fagegaltier D, Pidoux J, Tricoire H, Tora L, Boros IM, Antoniewski C. The Drosophila NURF remodelling and the ATAC histone acetylase complexes functionally interact and are required for global chromosome organization. EMBO Rep. 2008 Feb;9(2):187-92.
Navarro P, Chambers I, Karwacki-Neisius V, Chureau C, Morey C, Rougeulle C, Avner P (2008) Molecular coupling of Xist regulation and pluripotency. Science 321, 1693-1695.
Lagha, M., Kormish, J.D., Rocancourt, D., Manceau, M., Epstein, J.A., Zaret, K.S., Relaix, F. & Buckingham, M.E. (2008). Pax3 regulation of FGF signaling as embryonic progenitor cells progress into the myogenic program. Genes & Dev., 22, 1828-1837.
Le Guyader D, Redd MJ, Colucci-Guyon E, Murayama E, Kissa K, Briolat V, Mordelet E, Zapata A, Shinomiya H, Herbomel P. (2008) Origins and unconventional behavior of neutrophils in developing zebrafish. Blood 111, 132-41
Saburi S, Hester I, Fischer E, Pontoglio M, Eremina V, Gessler M, Quaggin SE, Harrison R, Mount R, McNeill H. Loss of Fat4 disrupts PCP signaling and oriented cell division and leads to cystic kidney disease. Nat Genet. 2008 Aug;40(8):1010-5.
Perdigoto CN, Gervais L, Overstreet E, Fischer J, Guichet A, Schweisguth F. Overexpression of partner of numb induces asymmetric distribution of the PI4P 5-Kinase Skittles in mitotic sensory organ precursor cells in Drosophila. PLoS ONE. 2008 Aug 27;3(8):e3072.
Awards
Christian Muchardt, CNRS research director in the URA 2578, was awarded the Prix d’excellence de la recherche scientifique France-Israël for his research on the chromatin regulation of gene expression (25th February 2008).