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

Brigitte Kieffer's interest in neurosciences dates back to her first steps in research at the University of Strasbourg. Ever since her setting up a young team at the Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie and cloning the first coding gene for an opioid receptor in 1992, she has embarked on an outstanding international career. She has been appointed Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Strasbourg in 1994 and invited Professor at the UCLA (USA) in 1998. In 2001 her team has joined IGBMC where she has expanded her activities in the field of molecular psychiatry. An EMBO member since 2009, she has been awarded two prestigious prizes by the French and American Academies of Sciences (Prize Jules Martin 2001 and Prize Lounsbery 2004). Her work has tremendously impacted health in terms of pain treatment, addictive behaviour and emotional disorders.

Astrid Lunkes is a scientist by training. She received her PhD in Genetics at the University of Düsseldorf (1995), followed by postdoctoral studies at the IGBMC on pathogenetic mechanisms of Huntington's disease. In 2001, she joined the EMBO Journal as an editor and later on launched the journal Molecular Systems Biology. In 2005, she took up strategic functions at the European Science Foundation (ESF), developing the European research landscape with European and International stakeholders. She joined IGBMC in 2009 as Director of Scientific Affairs.

During his PhD at the University of Strabourg (1991) he identified a novel mechanism of DNA strand breaks detection. He then moved for a post-doctorate at the Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, Canada) where y contributed to reveal the role of the Receptor Tyrosine Kinases in angiogenesis. He then joined the IGBMC to study the role of bHLH transcription factors in neurogenesis. In 2000, he revealed that one of these factors, neurogenin3, is also involved in the differentiation of pancreatic beta cells. This discovery promoted the creation of his own Inserm (Avenir) team at Hautepierre hospital (Strasbourg). In 2008, he moved to IGBMC where his group studies the mechanisms of endocrine cell differentiation in the pancreas and intestine. His research is relevant for the development of a cell therapy in diabetes and to understand the mechanisms underlying intestinal endocrine failure.

Patrick Schultz gained a background in molecular biology and genetics at the University Louis Pasteur and pursued his academic career by a thesis on chromatin organization under the direction of P. Oudet (1987). After an internship at EMBL, he started a post-doctoral fellowship at LGME (Strasbourg) and oriented his research towards the structural investigation of molecular complexes involved in transcription. In 1991, he determined the first three-dimensional model of RNA polymerase I by electron microscopy. He joined the newly created IGBMC in 1994 to solve the molecular organization of general transcription factors (TFIIH, TFIIE, and TFIID) as well as of co-activators (TFIID and SAGA). Since then, he works on a better understanding of the structure and the assembly modes of transcription initiation complexes and on the mechanisms of regulatory signal transduction.

After obtaining his PhD at the University of Glasgow on the herpes virus in 1985, he became a post-doctoral fellow at the LGME, the forerunner of the IGBMC in Strasbourg, working on the identification of transcription factors interacting with the SV40 enhancer. In 1990, he became principal investigator, is interested in the mechanisms of transcription activation and participated in the identification of the TFIID factor and its role as a coactivator in 1993. In 2000, he began to study TBP and its paralogue TRF2 in mouse, where he demonstrated the specific role of TRF2 in transcription regulation in male germ cells. His group also characterized the structure and functions of TAF4 and revealed its role in various signaling pathways. In addition, the group currently studies the role of transcription factor MITF and its cofactors in malignant melanoma.

After obtaining her PhD in Genetics from Harvard University, USA in 1998, Hélène Puccio joined the group of M. Koenig at the IGBMC to work on the molecular pathogenesis of Friedreich ataxia (FRDA). In 2001, she was appointed Inserm research associate and has since been the principal investigator on the FRDA project. In 2008, she was promoted Inserm Research Director (DR). Her research interest focuses on understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms implicated in recessive ataxias linked to mitochondrial dysfunciton. She was awarded the Pediatric Pathology Prize in 2005 and also received the label "Equipe FRM". In 2007, she obtained the prestigious Young Investigator ERC award, and in 2008 she received the Dr. Jean Toy Prize from the French Academy of Sciences.

After studying at the ENS, B. Seraphin obtained his PhD in 1988 at Curie Institute (Orsay) on mitochondrial splicing. From 1987 to 1989, as a post-doctoral fellow at Brandeis University (Boston) with Pr. M. Rosbash, he studied yeast nuclear splicing and brought to light new splicing complexes. In 1991, he joined I. Mattaj at EMBL before becoming an independent team leader. His group elucidated steps of splicing and RNA maturation, identifying numerous new factors on the way in part with the help of the newly developped TAP method. He received the Silver Medal of the CNRS in 2007 and is nominated for "Inventor of the Year 2008" by the European Patent Office. In 2000, he integrated the CGM (Gif/Yvette) where he studied RNA decay, discovering new enzymes, an uncharacterized cellular compartment, and new nonannotated transcripts. His research has been continuing at the IGBMC since 2009.

The research of his team focuses on the study of complexes involved in the regulation of gene expression, particularly at the level of transcription and translation. The research axis on transcription focuses on the function of chromatin remodelling complexes and on nuclear receptors which represent important therapeutic targets. The research axis on translation concerns the mechanism of protein biosynthesis catalyzed by the bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes. With a strong background in crystallography and cryo electron microscopy acquired during his PhD and then during his postdoc, his group group aims at analyzing various structural and functional states of these large macromolecular complexes by using an integrated structural biology approach to obtain insights into the mechanisms of gene regulation which provide the molecular basis for the development of new drugs.

Yann Herault obtained his PhD on the transcription regulation of clusterin at the ENS in Lyon in 1993. He then became interested in developmental biology and joined D. Duboule's laboratory at the University of Geneva in order to study Hox genes regulation. He became interested in Down's syndrome and created a resource of trisomic mice models for almost the entire Down's syndrome homolog genes in mouse. In 2007, he led the Transgenesis and Archiving of Animal Models unit in Orleans. He joined the IGBMC in 2010 as the director of the Mouse Clinic Institute and since then leads a team aiming at mapping relations between genotypes and phenotype in Down's syndrome. In 2010, he won the Price Young Investigator FRM ALSACE.

K. Morvan graduated from a top business school and occupied several administrative positions in diverse fields before joining the world of research. In 1990, she joined bio-medical analysis laboratories at the Faculty of Medicine in Strasbourg. She became administrative and financial Director of the IGBMC in 1995 and participated in 2002 in the creation of the Mouse Clinical Institute and the Economic Interest Grouping - European Centre of Research in Biology and Medicine (CERBM - GIE).

N. Bensel received his PhD in bioorganic chemistry in german-speaking Switzerland and then completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the co-founder of the NovAlix company, specializing in provision of research for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and fine chemistry industries. He joined the IGBMC in March 2010.