Prof. Lluis Fajas Coll was born in Barcelona, Spain. He studied Biology at the University of Barcelona were he got his Master’s degree. He next moved to the Ernst Boehringer Institute in Vienna, Austria were he did his PhD studies. After two post-doctoral stages in France in the laboratory of Prof. Auwerx at Pasteur Institute in Lille and at the IGMM in Dr. Sardet lab in Montpellier he was recruited as Inserm associated scientist at the IGBMC in Strasbourg. He next was appointed as junior group leader with an Inserm Avenir grant in Montpellier. The main focus of his research has been the link between cell cycle regulation, proliferation and metabolism in the context of metabolic pathologies, such as obesity and diabetes and in the context of cancer. | |
Sarah Geller - Senior research assistant Dr. Sarah Geller performed her master's and PhD. in France, in INSERM of Lille (Dr. Vincent Prévot group) and INRA-CNRS of Tours (Pr. Anne Duittoz and Dr. Yves Tillet group) respectively. She studied the role of glial cells (such as astrocytes and olfactory ensheathing cells) in the ontology (proliferation, differentiation, and maturation) of hypothalamic neurons which control reproductive function, named GnRH neurons. Then she was a post-doctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Luc Pellerin in Lausanne, where she explored the metabolism of hypothalamic neural cells (astrocytes, tanycytes, and GnRH neurons) and their involvement in metabolite sensing (glucose, lactate, and free fatty acids). Later she joined the group of Prof. Lluis Fajas in 2020 as a senior scientist. Her current studies explore the role of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) in regulating the endocrine hypothalamus. Her research aims to better understand the role of hypothalamic glial cells in regulating neuroendocrine functions of metabolism, reproduction, stress, and anxiety. | |
Jaime Lopez Alcala - Post-doctoral Fellow | |
Dorian Ziegler - Post-doctoral Fellow Dorian studied cellular biology at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France. Early interested in investigating cellular senescence, a cell program involved in the age-related decline of tissues, he performed internship in Pr. Judith Campisi’s lab at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California. For his PhD, he joined the lab of Dr. David Bernard, at the Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL) to study the role of metabolic homeostasis in the regulation of cellular senescence. In 2021, he moved to Lausanne in the group of Pr. Luis Fajas, in order to dig deeper into the interplay between metabolism, senescence, cancer and aging. | |
Kanishka Parashar - PhD Student Hello everyone! | |