IGBMC : Institut de la Génétique et de la Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire

The team led by Hélène Puccio, director of research for Inserm at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC) (Inserm / CNRS / University of Strasbourg) in close collaboration with Patrick Aubourg's team (Inserm and Professor of Neuropaediatrics at Bicêtre Hospital) has demonstrated, in the mice, the efficacy of gene therapy for treating the heart disease associated with Friedreich's ataxia, a rare hereditary neuro-degenerative disorder. The transfer, via a viral vector, of a normal copy of the gene deficient in patients, allowed to fully and very rapidly cure the heart disease in mice. These findings are published in Nature Medicine on 6 April, 2014.

Every year since 1998, the UNESCO and L'Oréal Corporate Foundation rewards 5 women, one per continent, for their contribution to the advancement of Science and career in a field still largely dominated by men. For the 2014 awards, life sciences are being celebrated.

The study of histones and their modifications is essential for the comprehension of gene expression. The group of Robert Schneider from the IGBMC discovered that one of these specific modifications, an acetylation, plays a role in the interaction histones/DNA. These results, published in the journal eLife, stress an implication of this histone mark in genome reorganization during the mouse sperm development and regulation of gene expression.