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The role of TELOmeres in POST-mitotic cell functioning and ageing – TELOPOST
Extension of life expectancy is considered to be one of the best indicators of the quality of any healthcare system. However, aging increases healthcare costs because the prevalence of age-associated diseases rises. Therefore, a major effort has been made over the last 50 years to better understand
Modulating gene expression by nucleus positioning in mouse oocytes – NuPos
In this interdisciplinary project we wanted to explore the mechanisms and biological significance of nuclear centering in the mouse oocyte. The position of the nucleus within cells often plays the role of a morphogen and an abnormal position can cause disease. In murine or human oocytes, the central
Control of actin on endosomes and ciliogenesis by the Rab35 GTPase and two novel effectors: An integrated view. – RabEndoCilio
The aim of the 4-year RabEndoCilio proposal is to characterize how Rab35 and two new effectors regulate the actin cytoskeleton, endosomal trafficking and functions of motile and primary cilia, from the molecular and structural level to the functional and in vivo level using human cells and zebrafish
Greatwall/ENSA/PP2A-B55: A new pathway in the control of S phase progression and the DNA damage checkpoint – REPLIGREAT
The main objectives of this project are: 1- To determine whether, besides Treslin, the Gwl/ENSA/PP2A-B55 pathway is additionally regulating additional proteins controlling replication fork progression 2- To characterize the molecular pathway by which the Gwl/ENSA/PP2A-B55 promotes Treslin ubiquiti
MEMBRANE CONTACTS CONTROLLING PLANT INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION – STAYING-TIGHT
Plant life depends on cell-to-cell connectivity through plasmodesmata (PD) channels. PD are indispensable for plant development, environmental adaptation and defence signalling. A striking feature of PD organisation, setting them apart from animal cell junctions, is a strand of endoplasmic reticulum
Investigation of the mechanisms patterning epithelial cardiac progenitor cells in the early mouse embryo – HEARTBOX
Defects in SHF deployment result in incomplete heart tube elongation and subsequent failure of the correct cardiac alignment necessary to separate the pulmonary and systemic circulatory systems. At the arterial pole, defects in anterior (Tbx1 positive) SHF development leads to failure to correctly d
Evolution and dynamics of dissemination of Tolerance towards AntiBiotics in biofilms (EvoTolAB) – EvoTolAB
Whereas enhanced tolerance of biofilms towards antibiotics is a multifactorial process, relapse of infection is mainly explained by the presence within biofilms of high levels of so-called persister bacteria that can sustain extremely high concentration of antibiotics but can regrow as biofilms when
Effet of acto-myosin dynamics on membrane nanotube stability – DynAcTube
My project aims at determining in vitro how acto-myosin dynamics reshape membrane nanotubes. Our hypothesis is that actin dynamics and/or myosin activity induce a contraction of membrane nanotubes that can eventually lead to their scission. In the case of a membrane nanotube, the mesh size of actin
Living with cell death: non-canonical impact of cell death on the fate of surviving cells – DEATH-FATE
Cell death occurs within a microenvironment, yet the interplay between the two of them lacks a comprehensive description. This project aims to define how different types of cell death, such as apoptosis or caspase-independent cell death (CICD) impact on the fate of surviving neighboring cells. Cell
A novel PERspective on microTUbule Regulation – APERTuRe
Microtubules are an important constituent of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells. Their dynamics and stability is essential for many cellular processes i.e. adhesion, migration and cell division. Common textbook knowledge states that the microtubule lattice dynamics is restricted to elongation and
Guiding massive collective migration, and fusion, of Drosophila epithelial cells – GuideFusion
Animal development is essentially based on the migration of groups of cells, which are able to travel great distances and fuse with target tissues. The objective of GuideFusion is to understand the feedback between genetic patterning and migration, which leads to the refined guidance of large assemb
Deciphering the molecular links between actomyosin force, integrin regulation and ECM properties through an in vitro reconstitution – RECAMECA
The objective of our project is to decipher the elementary links between actomyosin force, integrin regulation and ECM properties, underlying FA mechanosensitivity. The central point of this project is the study of the mechanosensitivity of an artificial focal adhesion. We started by purifying the t
Mechanisms of lipid patterning at the trans-Golgi Network and roles in protein sorting, cell polarity and plant development – caLIPSO
In plants, we previously showed partitioning of sphingolipids (SLs), sterols (partner 1) and phosphoinositides (PIPs) (partner 2) at TGN and our preliminary results suggest that SL and PIP patterning at TGN are interconnected. Task 1 (partner 1, Yohann Boutté) will map the precise subcellular locali
Functional links between nuclear architecture and epigenome reprogramming during plant adaptive responses to light – ChromaLight
Recent work from the converging fields of plant chromatin and sensory biology uncovered that Arabidopsis seedling de-etiolation involves massive reprogramming of genome expression that coincides with the subnuclear repositioning of light-induced genes and with the condensation of large heterochromat
Revealing the role of cell volume in adaptation – eVOLve
Cell volume is a complex trait that is regulated by both genetic and environmental components. Its central role in modulating how cells interact with their surroundings and in defining intracellular chemistry has made the processes that control cell size the focus of a large body of research. Intrig
ROLE OF SEPTIN-ASSOCIATED PROTEINS IN THE CONTROL OF SEPTIN ORGANIZATION AND DYNAMICS – SEPTORG
Cytokinesis is the final process of mitosis leading to the physical splitting of the two daughter cells and allowing the equal partition of chromosomes and cytoplasmic organelles, into the two dividing cells. To ensure the genetic stability of a cell lineage and proper cell fate, cytokinesis must be
Morphogenesis of two active tissues in contact, a multi-scale mechanical analysis – EpiMorph
Living tissues constitute materials with extraordinary mechanical properties. Indeed, their cells can deform, regulate their elasticity and even their fluidity by responding to mechanical input. Until very recently, studies on the mechanical properties of tissues had mainly focused on how specific c
Mode of action of a “stem cell self-renewing module” specific to early development – MASTERMOD
The embryonic period of development (up to the 8th week after fertilization in human) is characterized by a formidable growth rate. High proliferation and low differentiation during this period sustains the establishment of all the different pools of organ-specific stem cells (different from pluripo
uORF-mediated post-transcriptional control of stem cell niche activity in plants – ReinitiaTOR
Growth and regeneration in all organisms depends on a proper balance between stem cell division and differentiation. Despite extensive study of the transcriptional and epigenetic networks that control stem cell populations, mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation in the stem cell niche remain
Role of tetraspanin-syndecan-PDZ webs in the molecular and functional heterogeneity of extracellular vesicles – SynTEV
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, transport complex information (lipids, proteins, nucleic acids). EVs participate in the regulation of multiple physio-pathological processes including immunity, angiogenesis, cancer, cardio-vascular diseases and neurodegeneration. The use of EVs for
Role of tubulin glutamylation in flagellum construction – TUBGLUFLA
Cilia and flagella are essential eukaryotic organelles composed of a conserved structure of 9 doublet microtubules that are similar but not equivalent. We propose that a tubulin post-translational modification called glutamylation could act as a tubulin code defining the molecular identity of each m
Understanding the role and the regulation of Arpp19, a central player of cell division – KiARP
Cells proliferate by means of the mitotic cell cycle that supports growth, development and maintenance of all living organisms. Understanding the control of cell cycle has fascinated biologists for many years. Cell division is orchestrated by the phosphorylation of mitotic proteins, under the contro
The role of developmental genetic architecture in shaping evolutionary trends – DevEvolTrends
Mutation is the ultimate source of phenotypic variation in evolution. Random mutation, however, does not translate into isotropic phenotypic variation in all directions of phenotype space because development limits or biases the mutationally inducible phenotypic spectrum. Hence, this mutationally in
Cell reprogramming by a novel PAX5 mutant: To B-cells or not to B-cells? – Bcell-ID
The oncogenic alterations that arise in somatic cells lead to a whole reprogramming of the normal cellular fate and open a new pathologic developmental program. Cellular plasticity, reprogramming and cancer initiation are therefore tightly intertwined. The development of acute leukemia is a multiste
Testing the Ménage à Trois Hypothesis – MATHTEST
We have made significant progress with regard to plastid origin and have provided strong evidence that the canonical plastid was domesticated due to the direct impact of a now absent player, an environmental chlamydial pathogen (1). This hypothesis called the ménage à trois hypothesis (MATH) specifi
Rabbit: a new animal model for studying naïve pluripotency and chimeric competency in non-rodent mammals – ORYCTOCELL
Pluripotency is the term used to describe the ability of a stem cell to give rise to all cell types in mature organisms. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in mice comprise the following two main types: (i) embryonic stem cells (mESCs), derived from the early epiblast of the blastocyst, which epitomise t
Large scale folding by epithelial migration – Migrafolds
Epithelium folding transforms simple tissue sheets in complex three-dimensional structures and underlies processes such as gastrulation, neurulation and eye formation. To advance the understanding of the mechanisms of tissue folding, our project aims to investigate (i) the link between homeotic gene
Identification of a new protein signature of extracellular vesicles involved in embryonic development and pathology – ART-EVs
The Hedgehog (Hh) family proteins are major secreted proteins that act at a short and/or long range to direct cell fate decisions in invertebrate and vertebrate tissues during development. Yet, the molecular mechanism governing Hh secretion in different tissues, including the mammalian developing br