Scientific and administrative responsibilities
- Leader of the “Cardiogenomics” research group
- Co-responsible for communication and scientific culture
Research interests
We use the Drosophila as a model for the study of cardiac function in physiological and pathophysiological contexts.
Our projects are organized around two aspects:
- Characterizing the autonomic and systemic response of the heart to nutritional stress.
Flies fed high-sugar or high-fat diets develop cardiac dysfunctions similar to diabetic heart disease. A transcriptomic approach allows us to study the genetic basis of the heart's adaptive response to hyperglycemia and excess fat.
- Determine the natural variations in the genome associated with changes in cardiac function during aging.
Using GWAS-type association genetic analyses on a population of 200 Drosophila inbred lines (DGRP), we have identified genes encoding transcription factors that impact cardiac function during senescence.
External collaborative projects:
Functional validation of orthologs of human genes involved in Brugada syndrome BrS (ANR funding 2022-2027) and in sex dimorphism in the onset of BrS (ANR funding 2026-2030)
Effect of puparium orientation on heart metamorphosis (ANR funding 2026-2029)
Staff and student supervision
Students :
>2024/25
Hajar Mechouat (M2 BIP, AMU, Marseille)
Darine Gadacha (M2 BIP, AMU, Marseille) , co-supervision with Christophe Chevillard (TAGC)
Jade Leroy (M1 BIP, AMU, Marseille)
<2024
Charis Aubert, Alice Corbet, Clara Rouquairol, Loïc Crespo : Master BIP, AMU, Marseille
Engineer :
>2026-2027
Hajar Mechouat (ANR funding)
Collaborations
Dr Sonia Stefanovic (C2VN, Marseille, France)
Dr Nuria Romero (INRAE Sophia-Antipolis, France)
Drs Flavien Charpentier, Julien Barc, Nathalie Gaborit (ANR-WIRES; Institut du Thorax, Nantes, France)
Drs Nathalie Gaborit, Guillaume Lamirault and Jeremie Poschmann (ANR-SEXY; Institut du Thorax, Nantes, France)
Funding
ANR-WIRES (2022-2026; Coord. Dr Flavien Charpentier, Institut du Thorax, Nantes, France) https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-22-CE17-0051
ANR-POME (2025-2029; Coord. Dr Nuria Romero, INRAE Sophia Antipolis, Antibes, France) https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-25-CE16-1935
ANR-SEXY (2026-2030; Coord. Dr Nathalie Gaborit, Institut du Thorax, Nantes, France) ongoing contract formalisation
External references
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6833-2069