Presentation

The human microglia-microbiota modulation of the inhibitory cortical circuit during brain development: role in cortical formation and childhood epilepsies

Since my PhD in Neurophysiology, I developed a particular interest for the study of glia- neurons interactions in physiological and pathological brain conditions. Using electrophysiology and live imaging techniques, I unrevealed new mechanisms for microglia and astrocytes modulations of neuronal activities that directly influence the brain excitability. I there worked on a project studying microglia-neuron interactions in mouse models of stress-induced depression (Milior et al 2016). I was an integral part of the team that participated in the first observation of 'dark microglia', a microglial state we found to be highly prevalent upon exposure to various risk factors for disease (e.g., stress, aging) and disease pathology (Bitsch et al 2016).

In 2016 I joined the lab of Prof. Richard Miles at the ICM, Pitié-Salpêtrière as a postdoctoral fellow. I had the possibility, thanks to the several collaborations with neurosurgeons and medical doctors, to analyze tissues from patients suffering from epilepsy, underlying, in particular, differential effects of microglial activation during seizures. In particular, in the Miles's group, I studied the immune consequences of epileptic seizures and the differences in the motility responses of human microglia (Milior et al 2020; Morin-Brureau et al 2018). This pioneering work involved the refinement of human brain ex vivo models as the long-term organotypic slice culture aiming to perform imaging and electrophysiology as well as viral manipulations (Le Duigou et al 2018). Since 2019, I continued my human brain studies as a postdoc in the lab of Prof. Nathalie Rouach at the CIRB, Collège de France. I remained focused on investigating the dynamic interactions between glial cells and neurons. In human peritumoral brain tissues, I explored the hypothesis that astrocytic IP3R receptors represent valid markers for astrocytoma tumour invasion and epilepsy, exploring how IP3Rs in human microglia and astrocytes affect tumour prognosis and the incidence of peri-tumoral epileptic activity.

I am proposing, for the next years, an innovative research project concerning the link between interneurons and microglia in human brain development, further exploring the role of the gut-brain axis in malformation of cortical development and childhood epilepsies. My future team will investigate how the gut microbiome controls a neurobiological developmental disease. This research introduces a novel set of questions and paradigms, yet the proposed techniques and the use of human tissue preparations.