Marie-Hélène Verlhac, winner of the Jaffé/Fondation de l'Institut de France 2022 prize

Marie-Hélène Verlhac studies the maternal heritage transmitted by the female gamete to her offspring. At fertilization, the female gamete transmits not only its haploid genome, but also its enormous cytoplasm containing the reserves necessary for embryo formation. His work pioneered research into the assembly and positioning of meiotic spindles in mammalian oocytes lacking the centrosomes found in most cells. His team has discovered original mechanisms, based on purely biophysical phenomena, controlling the nature and preservation of maternal inheritance. Recently, they identified the control of maternal mRNA splicing by cytoplasmic forces, opening up new avenues of research.