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

• Researchers

  Christelle GALLY

  Sophie JARRIAULT

• Post-Doctoral Fellows

  Shashi Kumar SUMAN

  Laura VIBERT

• PhD Students

  Jaime OSUNA LUQUE

  Claudia RIVA

• Engineers & Technicians

  Davide ISAIA

  David RODRIGUEZ

Development and stem cells

In vivo cellular plasticity and direct reprogramming

How differentiated cells can change their identity is a fascinating question in biology and has implications for the development of regenerative medicine strategies. Numerous examples of cellular plasticity in physiological, experimental and pathological settings exist, but precisely how a differentiated cell can change its identity remains unknown. Our research tackles this important question by employing a powerful and innovative model, the nematode C. elegans.
Our work has established the worm as a new model to study cellular reprogramming in vivo at the single cell level. We have shown that direct cell reprogramming events occur during the worm development: for example, a rectal cell changes its identity into a moto-neuron. Because of the C. elegans invariant cellular lineage, our system gives us access to all the steps of the process, including the early ones, a unique asset. We investigate how specific cells, but not their neighbours, become competent to be reprogrammed. We have begun the systematic identification of the molecular networks and the dissection of the cellular requirements underlying direct cell type conversion in vivo. In addition, we are assessing what key aspects have been conserved in cell reprogramming by comparing different cell plasticity events.
Our integrated approach will contribute to unravel the key mechanisms that allow a differentiated cell to become plastic and change its identity. Such knowledge has significant therapeutic implications, as it will deepen our understanding of the initiation of certain cancers, and will improve our ability to reprogram cells for regenerative medicine purposes.

Our team is member of the european network Genie : Group of Elegans New Investigators in Europe.

• Current projects

  Our projects are centered on 4 questions and aim at determining the cellular requirements and the molecular circuitry controlling cell plasticity:
  • What makes a cell, but not its neighbours, uniquely able to be reprogrammed, in vivo?
  • What nuclear events potentiate the initiation of in vivo direct reprogramming?
  • How is the cellular potential associated with each intermediate step controlled?
  • Do different plasticity events rely on conserved strategies?

• Collaborations

• Prizes/Awards

  • Sophie JARRIAULT - ERC Consolidator Grant - European Research Council (ERC) - 2014
  • Marie-Charlotte MORIN - "Ma thèse en 180s" 1st prize - CPU / CNRS - 2014
  • Sophie JARRIAULT - Prize for fundamental research - Fondation Générale de Santé / Académie des sciences - 2012
  • Sophie JARRIAULT - EMBO Young Investigator Award - European Molecular Biology Organization Young Investigator Programme (EMBO YIP) - 2011
  • Sophie JARRIAULT - Young investigator Award - European Federation for Systematic Stem Cell Biology (EuroSyStem) - 2010
  • Sophie JARRIAULT - Scientific Prize - Fondation Schlumberger pour l'Education et la Recherche (FSER) - 2009
  • Sophie JARRIAULT - Scientific Prize - Comité Alsace de la Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) - 2008
  • Sophie JARRIAULT - ATIP starting grant - CNRS - 2006

• News

  • April 25, 2016 - IGBMC Researchers once again distinguished by the European Research Council
  • Aug. 15, 2014 - The keys to the transdifferentiation
  • June 11, 2014 - “Ma thèse en 180 secondes”: A story of identity crisis in a small worm remarkably told by Marie-Charlotte Morin
  • April 9, 2012 - From test-tube to human living : the transdifferentiation « recipe »
  • Nov. 10, 2011 - Two junior researchers awarded by the prestigious european EMBO programme
  • March 9, 2011 - Transdifferentiation : the doorway to regenerative medecine

• Publications

  • Developmental Plasticity and Cellular Reprogramming in Caenorhabditis elegans

    Joel Rothman 1 , Sophie Jarriault 2

    Genetics 2019 ; : .

  • An actin-based viscoplastic lock ensures progressive body-axis elongation

    Alicia Lardennois 1 , Gabriella Pásti 2 , Teresa Ferraro 1 , Flora Llense 1 , Pierre Mahou 3 , Julien Pontabry 2 4 , David Rodriguez 2 , Samantha Kim 2 , Shoichiro Ono 5 , Emmanuel Beaurepaire 3 , Christelle Gally 2 , Michel Labouesse 6 7

    Nature 2019 ; : .

  • Developmental Plasticity and Cellular Reprogramming in Caenorhabditis elegans.

    Rothman J(1), Jarriault S(2).

    Genetics Nov 2019 ; 213:723-757 .

  • Publisher Correction: An actin-based viscoplastic lock ensures progressive body-axis elongation.

    Lardennois A(1), Pasti G(2), Ferraro T(1), Llense F(1), Mahou P(3), Pontabry J(2)(4), Rodriguez D(2), Kim S(2), Ono S(5), Beaurepaire E(3), Gally C(2), Labouesse M(6)(7).

    Nature Oct. 3, 2019 .

  • Publisher Correction: An actin-based viscoplastic lock ensures progressive body-axis elongation.

    Lardennois A(1), Pasti G(2), Ferraro T(1), Llense F(1), Mahou P(3), Pontabry J(2)(4), Rodriguez D(2), Kim S(2), Ono S(5), Beaurepaire E(3), Gally C(2), Labouesse M(6)(7).

    Nature Sept. 6, 2019 .

  • An actin-based viscoplastic lock ensures progressive body-axis elongation.

    Lardennois A(1), Pasti G(2), Ferraro T(1), Llense F(1), Mahou P(3), Pontabry J(2)(4), Rodriguez D(2), Kim S(2), Ono S(5), Beaurepaire E(3), Gally C(2), Labouesse M(6)(7).

    Nature Aug. 28, 2019 .

  • FM19G11-Loaded Gold Nanoparticles Enhance the Proliferation and Self-Renewal of Ependymal Stem Progenitor Cells Derived from ALS Mice.

    Marcuzzo S(1), Isaia D(2), Bonanno S(3), Malacarne C(4), Cavalcante P(5), Zacheo A(6), Laquintana V(7), Denora N(8), Sanavio B(9), Salvati E(10), Andreozzi P(11)(12), Stellacci F(13), Krol S(14)(15)(16)(17), Mellado-Lopez M(18), Mantegazza R(19), Moreno-Manzano V(20), Bernasconi P(21).

    Cells March 23, 2019 ; 8:279 .

  • Wound healing, cellular regeneration and plasticity: the elegans way

    Laura Vibert 1 , Anne Daulny, Sophie Jarriault

    The International journal of developmental biology 2018 ; : .

  • Back-translating behavioral intervention for autism spectrum disorders to mice with blunted reward restores social abilities.

    Pujol CN(1)(2), Pellissier LP(3)(2), Clement C(4), Becker JAJ(1)(3)(2), Le Merrer J(5)(6).

    Transl Psychiatry Sept. 21, 2018 ; 8:197 .

  • Wound healing, cellular regeneration and plasticity: the elegans way.

    Vibert L(1), Daulny A, Jarriault S.

    Int J Dev Biol 2018 ; 62:491-505 .

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• Job opportunities

• Alumni

• Videos

  • Strasbourg celebrates the 10 year anniversary of the Europeen Council of Research (ERC)
  • "Ma thèse en 180s" 2014 - Marie-Charlotte MORIN

• Thesis subjects