Researcher | Research Overview
In August 2012, I joined the laboratory of Dr Woolf as a post-doctoral fellow. Here, my work is devoted to the development and use of multi-disciplinary approaches to identify the mechanisms and molecules that regulate the interplay between the immune and nervous systems in the context of pathology. To do so, we have developed a unique combination of pharmacological blocker and genetic tools to specifically silence pain neurons in disease models. These tools allowed us to precisely decipher the relative contribution of pain neurons in inflammation.
Altogether, I am using techniques of molecular and cell biology, confocal microscopy, neuroanatomy, behavior, and genetics, emphasizing knowledge advances into translation to new therapies.
Researcher | Research Background
I first completed by bachelor degree in Pharmacology at the Université de Sherbrooke (Québec, Canada) in 2006. Thereafter, I joined the laboratory of Dr Réjean Couture at the Université de Montréal (Québec, Canada) to pursue my doctoral degree in Physiology (2006-2012). My thesis research centered on unraveling the localization, induction mechanism, and pathophysiological role of the kinin B1 receptor in rodent models of pain and inflammation. Among the others, I investigated how microglia contribute to the onset of diabetic pain neuropathy. This work led to the identification of complex and highly regulated tri-partite interactions among the pre- and post- synaptic neurons and the immune system (microglia) which tightly controls inflammatory responses and chronic neuronal activation.