Research program
Cellular identities and destinies
The Cellular identities and destinies program
(PEPR Cell-ID)
The “Cellular identities and destinies” exploratory research program (PEPR Cell-ID) is funded by France 2030. Its aim is to deploy interceptive medicine in the field of pediatric brain cancer research. It has a budget of €50m over 7 years.
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Led by
Funded by
Operated by
The Cell-ID Team
Scientific director : Geneviève Almouzni
Scientific director : Geneviève Almouzni
Scientific leaders of targeted priority projects :
- Cell Context : Giacomo Cavalli and Marcelo Nollmann
- Cell Exp : Gaëlle Legube and Stéphane Nedelec
- Data Med :
- Data : Daniel Jost and Thomas Walter
- Med : Laure Bally-Cuif and David Castel
- Cell Next : Geneviève Almouzni, Sophie Jarriault and Thomas Walter
Scientific managers :
- Coodination : Therese Wilhelm
- Data Med : David Sitbon
- Cell Next : Susana Abreu Ribeiro
Chief Data Officer : Amna Chabaane
Communications managers : Marie Origas (CNRS) and Ana Garre Debiès (Inserm)
Giacomo Cavalli and Marcelo Nollmann, scientific managers of the targeted priority projects
Thomas Walter and Daniel Jost, scientific managers of the targeted priority project Data
Data
- Emmanuel Barillot / Laurence Calzone
- Laura Cantini
- Philippe Hupé
- Sophie Jarriault
- Daniel Jost
- Vera Pancaldi
- Nicolas Servant
- Thomas Walter
Laure Bally-Cuif and David Castel, scientific managers of the target priority project Med
Med
Gaëlle Legube and Stéphane Nedelec, scientific managers of the targeted priority project
A major public health issue
In France, brain tumors are the most common cancer after leukemia in children under 15. They affect almost 500 new children every year (2021 figures). Most survivors suffer long-term sequelae and severe treatment, affecting their quality of life and place in society. As a result, these diseases have a significant individual, family and societal impact.
What is a cell?
A single cell enables the development of an entire organism. It gives rise to all the cells that make up the human body, a collection of over 30,000 billion distinct cells! Yet all these cells share the same genetic information in their DNA. This DNA, organized into 23 pairs of chromosomes, codes for thousands of genes.
Trajectories that derail
During development, genetic information is read differently by different cell types, such as neurons or muscle cells. As a result, different combinations of genes are activated according to the cellular trajectories taken. These trajectories describe how a cell specializes and assumes a specific role in the organism. However, this reading of genetic information can be disrupted. In this case, the cell may follow an abnormal trajectory at the wrong time. This type of error can ultimately lead to inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cancer.
Cell-ID’s mission
The Cell-ID research program aims to understand the mechanisms governing cell identities and destinies, and to determine when cells go off the rails. Focusing on the normal development of the nervous system, it is also studying the case of certain pediatric brain cancers, which are thought to be linked to a deregulation of cell fate during embryonic development.
The approaches
This involves the use of imaging, functional genomics, data analysis and modeling methods, as well as new complex tissue models. These approaches offer tremendous potential for understanding when, how and why a cell follows a particular fate under normal conditions. They also provide a means of understanding how the cell loses its identity and drifts from its normal destiny during pathologies.
The expected results
Cell-ID, building on the LifeTime 2020 initiative and the concept of cellular interception medicine, will enable understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopment, while supporting technological advances and the training of the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists. Ultimately, this initiative will pave the way for improved diagnosis, assessment of the risk of disease progression or recurrence, and adaptation of treatments from the earliest stages. It will begin with the study of pediatric brain cancers, with the possibility of extending it to other related pathologies in the future.
Key figures
major challenges
permanent researchers
PhD students
post-docs
News & events
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