Team

Research interest

My research program is composed of two main axes. The first one begin the definition of oocyte and early embryo quality determinants. The fact that the ability of the oocyte to become an embryo is acquired when the gamete is still in the ovarian follicle is well known. The ovarian follicle is composed of about four cellular types and we are interested in the cells closer to the oocyte by studying their ability to sustain the development and preparation of the gamete. We are also interested in the RNA pools stored in the oocyte and used to sustain the first cellular divisions. To this day, the storing, management and disposal mechanism for these RNA pools are not well understood. This despite the fact that the majority of embryos die during the first cellular divisions while these stocks support cellular functions.

Our second research axis revolves around genetic related aspects such as genomics (studying DNA as a whole), including genomic diversity analysis and the impact of epigenetic, especially DNA methylation, on gene expression and thus phenotypes. Representative examples of our projects in this axis are the analysis of the genetic diversity of the Canadienne cow breed or the impact of the environment (such as the one being affected by the mother’s nutrition) on embryo quality and the establishment of its epigenome; more precisely on the DNA methylation marks that will influence gene expression, including a range of long non-coding RNA.    

Expertise