Teams
Neuroplasticity in Parkinson's disease
email: veronique.sgambato@inserm.fr
phone: (334) 37 91 12 49
Véronique Sgambato is a neurobiologist (Researcher ID: G-9062-2017; ORCID: 0000-0002-8792-8586). She obtained her PhD in Neuroscience in 1998 from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris (Ph.D. director Prof. Jean-Michel Deniau; Laboratory of Neuroanatomy and Neurochemistry headed by Prof. Marie-Jo Besson). After two postdoctoral trainings in the USA in the laboratories of Prof. Steven E. Hyman (Molecular Plasticity Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD) and of Prof. Paul Greengard (Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2000; Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Rockefeller University, New-York City), she got an academic position in 2002 as a research scientist at INSERM, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. From 2003 to 2008, she worked in Grenoble (laboratories of Prof. Alim-Louis Benabid, INSERM U318 Preclinical Neuroscience and then of Dr. Marc Savasta, Grenoble Institute of Neuroscience) to investigate the impact of deep brain stimulation and levodopa treatment, the two major symptomatic treatments for Parkinson’s disease (PD), on the plasticity of basal ganglia neurons by combining behavioral, biochemical and immunohistochemical approaches on rodent models. In 2009, she moved to Lyon to join the Institute of cognitive Sciences Marc Jeannerod (Mixt Research Unit 5229 from the Scientific Research National Center (CNRS) and University of Lyon 1) and focused her research on the role of the serotonergic system in the pathophysiology of motor and non-motor symptoms in PD by combining behavioral, imaging and anatomical approaches on primates. Since January 1st, 2021, she leads a research team entitled “Neuroplasticity in Parkinson’s disease” with preclinical and clinical axes. Dr Sgambato was President of the French basal ganglia club from june 2018 to january 2023. She was a member of scientific committee of France Parkinson and of the Parkinson committee of Fondation de France for 6 years and is actually associate editor for Nature Journal of Parkinson's disease. Dr Sgambato’s work is supported by the CNRS, Université de Lyon, Fondation de France, Fondation Neurodis, France Parkinson and Agence Nationale de la Recherche.
Moreemail: marion.canuel@isc.cnrs.fr
Marion Canuel is a study engineer.
After graduating in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in biology, specializing in physiology, she entered the Preclinical and Clinical Animal Research master's program (Lyon 1 University, France). This diploma enabled her to acquire knowledge of animal welfare, ethics and experimentation regulations. In order to consolidate her technical skills, she completed a work-study program at the Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie (Lyon), studying the role of myeloid cells in TGF-beta activation in melanoma, using mouse models.
Marion then joined our institute for 6 months in February 2024, to work on the molecular plasticity mechanisms taking place in various brain regions from different PD animal models. At the same time, she had the opportunity to participate to another project investigating primate cortico-basal ganglia pathways in impulsivity in collaboration with the Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute (Bron, France).
email: chrystelle.castano@club-internet.fr
phone: (334) 74 31 34 29
Chrystelle Castano-Francony is a neuropsychologist involved in clinical projects of the team.
After three years studying Clinical and Psychopathological Psychology in the University of Lyon, she integrated a Neurosciences Cognitives Master and specialized herself through a DESS Neuropsychology of the University of Savoie (Chambery, 1996).
She has completed her cursus with an Emotional Freedom Techniques certificate (EFT France school) in 2010 and recently validates a BPC formation in 2021.
Since 1996, she works in the Neurological department of the Hospital of Vienne (Isere, France) and since 2012 joins the Rehabilitation département of the same structure.
Her fields of interest in Neuropsychology are executive functions, comportemental disorders and episodic memory, focus on adult patients with several brain injuries and neurological pathologies, like Parkinson’s disease.
Moreemail: rossella.cirillo@gmail.com
phone: (334) 37 91 13 32
Rossella Cirillo started working in research laboratories in 2009 in the Laboratory of Developmental Psychobiology and Behavioral Genetics in Rome where she participated in a research project to study the genotype-dependent differences in coping strategies.
She then worked in the Laboratory of Medical Pharmacology at Sapienza University (Rome, Italy) to study the c-fos protein expression induced by cocaine and heroin-taking in rat striatal dopamine neurons.
Her PhD experience (2013-2017) took place at the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology at Sapienza University in Rome where she started to study the role of primate cortical neurons in social interaction, focusing on the brain areas normally involved in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
In 2017 she started to work at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives (ISC) as a Post Doc. The first project concerned the study of social brain’s structures in non-human primates.
Rossella was in the team of Véronique Sgambato from January 2020 to July 2022 to study behavioral disorders on non-human primates with Parkinson-induced symptoms and the brain structures involved in this neurodegenerative disease. Although she has left the team to work in Italy, she is still involved in a number of preclinical projects.
Moreemail: sandra.duperrier@isc.cnrs.fr
phone: (334) 37 91 13 32
Sandra Duperrier was an assistant engineer in the team. She worked with Véronique Sgambato from December 2013 to July 2022 on preclinical projects.
She has knowledge in microbiology, molecular biology and histology. She worked at the Institut Pasteur in Paris on the development of a Listeria biodiversity chip and on improving the growth of Legionella. She joined the CNRS in 2006 as an engineer assistant, at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique in Paris, and worked on the search for a sigma factor inhibitor of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.
In 2013, she moved to the Lyon region to join the Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod. Since then, Sandra Duperrier actively participated in the study project on the role of serotonin in motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease, under Dr V. Sgambato’s supervision.
She left the lab in July 2022 to return to more molecular projects, enabling her to work on DNA and RNA on a daily basis.
Moreemail: sirine.hassen.pro@gmail.com
After graduating with a degree in psychology in 2021, Sirine Hassen completed a Masters in cognitive science at the University of Lille, with a focus on research. She did her research placement at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, helping to write a scientific article. Sirine continued her second year working with a company that develops virtual reality cognitive training programmes for different audiences. In particular, she worked on the effect of virtual reality cognitive training on executive functions. She quickly developed a keen interest in Parkinson's disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Sirine then worked as a business engineer at the Institut Carnot de la Cognition. In autumn 2024, Sirine will join our research team as a PhD student working on the brain expression of serotonin 5-HT4 receptors in Parkinson's disease. Sirine is delighted to be part of the adventure and to be joining the Neuroplasticity in Parkinson's Disease team.
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email: bastien.lederout@isc.cnrs.fr
Bastien Le Derout obtained his Master's degree in pathogenic, molecular, and ecological microbiology from Lyon in 2019.
Bastien began his research career studying fungal communities involved in forest’s biomass degradation. Following this, he joined the Microbiology, Adaptation, and Pathogenicity (MAP) laboratory, affiliated with the CNRS, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, and INSA Lyon. There, Bastien studied the gram-negative bacteria Dickeya dadantii. He specifically focused on the type 2 secretion system (T2SS), a key element in the virulence of this bacteria. Finally, through a transcriptomic study of D. dadantii, new genes encoding virulence factors were discovered and published.
Bastien joined our team in June 2024 to conduct immunolabeling experiments on primate brain tissue sections and subsequently perform both qualitative and quantitative analyses using confocal and electron microscopy. Bastien will also learn the RNAscope technique to quantitatively measure transcript expression levels in specific cells of interest. Part of this program is performed in collaboration with Prof. Martin Parent (Quebec, Canada).
Moreemail: alexis.lepetit@chu-lyon.fr
phone: (334) 72 43 23 26
Dr Alexis Lepetit is a psychiatrist and geriatrician, involved in clinical projects of the team.
Since the beginning of his psychiatric training, Dr Alexis Lepetit has been interested in Old Age Psychiatry (OAP). To improve his skills in this subspecialty, he decided to complete his training with a geriatric medical degree.
Dr Lepetit’s current position enables him to develop research and teaching projects in both psychiatry and neurology. Dr Lepetit supervises medical residents for their theses. These theses are also published as research articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr Alexis Lepetit has a keen interest in psychopharmacology that enabled him to participate as principal investigator or co-investigator in pharmaceutical trials.
On the other hand, he is a founding member of the French association of early-career psychiatrists (AJPJA, www.ajpja.fr). This associative commitment directly followed his 2 years as a board member of the French association of psychiatric trainees (AFFEP, www.affep.fr). During this mandate, the first taskforce on OAP has been created to make it an official psychiatric subspecialty in France with the full support of the French association of professors of psychiatry, the OAP section of the EPA, the European Association of Geriatric Psychiatry and the WPA.
Dr Alexis Lepetit is also involved in the promotion of OAP in France, being deputy general secretary of the French Old Age Psychiatry Society (SF3PA).
Moreemail: pparekh@isc.cnrs.fr
Pathik Parekh pursued his master’s degree from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in India in 2017. Where he studied the role of autophagy in the neurotoxin-based animal model of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
He is pursuing his Ph.D. from the University of Cagliari, Italy where his main goal is to investigate the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory potential of natural products in the preclinical model of PD.
As a part of his Ph.D. program, he joined the team of Prof. Véronique Sgambato at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences, Lyon to study behavioral disorders in the non-human primates which recapitulate symptoms of PD and to understand the brain structures involved behind the observed neurodegeneration in PD.
Pathik left the team in July 2022 to perform a post-doctoral training in the USA but stays involved in some preclinical projects.
Moreemail: alix.saude@univ-lyon2.fr
Alix Saude was a student pursuing his master’s degree of cognitive sciences, neuropsychology and clinical neurosciences at the Lyon 2 University, France.
As a part of his master’s program, Alix joined the Neuroplasticity in Parkinson’s disease’s team under the supervision of V. Sgambato, to study behavioral disorders in the Parkinson’s disease and learn more about the research field, from January to July 2022.
email: ae.vallet@ch-vienne.fr
phone: (334) 74 31 34 29
Dr Anne-Evelyne Vallet is a neurologist.
Dr Vallet has a training both in neuroscience with the Ecole Normale Superieure (Lyon) and in medicine.
Dr Vallet completed her training in 2007, and then worked for 3 years with Prof Broussolle in his team in the department of movement disorders in the Neurological hospital of Lyon, France.
Since 2011, Dr Vallet been working in the neurological department of the general hospital of Vienne (Isere, France) . Her fields of interest in neurology include movement disorders, neuromuscular disorders and stroke.
Moreemail: jing.xie@chu-lyon.fr
phone: (334) 72 43 20 44
Jing XIE is a neurologist (RPPS: 10005166839).
She obtained her medical degree in 1987 from the Shanghai Jian Tong medical university, China. She works in France as a neurologist since 1995 and obtained her PhD in Neurosciences in 2001 from the Joseph-Fourier University in Grenoble. She got the equivalence doctor in medicine in France in 2008.
From 1995 to 2000, she worked in the neurological service of Prof Pollak, CHU de Grenoble. From 2002 to 2009, she worked in the neurological service of Prof Broussolle, Hôpital Neurologique, Lyon. During these years, she primarily treated Parkinsonian patients and patients with movement disorders. She has been involved in numerous clinical researches on Parkinson’s disease. Since 2012, she works as co-head in the clinical and research memory center of Lyon. She works on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. She participates in clinical research and teaching.
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