Publications associées à Tetrapod axial evolution and developmental constraints; Empirical underpinning by a mouse model

A CTCF-dependent mechanism underlies the Hox timer relation to a segmented body plan

During gastrulation, Hox genes are activated in a timesequence that follows the order of the genes along their clusters. This property, which is observed in all animals that develop following a progressive rostral-to-caudal morphogenesis, is associated wit ...

Current Biology Ltd2024

Digital reconstruction of the mammalian spinal cord: from anatomical reference volume to cell type atlas of the mouse spinal cord

Ihor Kuras

The spinal cord is an elongated nervous structure that together with the brain forms the central nervous system. It relays sensory and motor information between the brain and the body, thus controlling most somatic and autonomic body functions. In recent y ...

EPFL2023

Wide-scale identification of novel/eliminated genes responsible for evolutionary transformations

Daria Korotkova

BackgroundIt is generally accepted that most evolutionary transformations at the phenotype level are associated either with rearrangements of genomic regulatory elements, which control the activity of gene networks, or with changes in the amino acid conten ...

2023

How are cells instructed to form somite boundaries by the zebrafish segmentation clock?

Olivier François Venzin

In vertebrate embryos, the elongating body axis is patterned via the sequential and rhyth-mic production of segments from a posterior unsegmented tissue called the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). This process is controlled by a population of cellular oscillator ...

EPFL2023

Sequential and directional insulation by conserved CTCF sites underlies the Hox timer in stembryos

Denis Duboule, Célia Corinne Renée Bochaton, Lucille Delisle, Hocine Rekaik, Aurélie Hintermann, Alexandre Gauthier Aurèle Mayran

Temporal activation of Hox genes in mouse pseudo-embryos in vitro initiates at the anterior part of the cluster and is accompanied by asymmetric loading of cohesin. Posterior CTCF sites then successively act as transient insulators, regulating the timed tr ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

Development of a Robotic Microsurgeon for Embryonic Research

Ece Özelçi

Understanding how biological matter takes its shape is instrumental to biology, bioengineering, medicine, and bioinspired engineering. Gaining information on the principles of morphogenesis could enable clinicians to correct developmental abnormalities, ev ...

EPFL2023

Fast-Spiking Interneurons of the Premotor Cortex Contribute to Initiation and Execution of Spontaneous Actions

Silvestro Micera, Maria Pasquini

Planning and execution of voluntary movement depend on the contribution of distinct classes of neurons in primary motor and premotor areas. However, timing and pattern of activation of GABAergic cells during specific motor behaviors remain only partly unde ...

SOC NEUROSCIENCE2023

Beyond undulation! Body morphology and sensing components of elongated animals and robots reveal skills to maintain competent locomotion

Laura Isabel Paez Coy

Locomotion is an essential evolutive innovation of living beings that allows them to colonize and dominate the planet. As diverse as animal morphologies are (living) and were (extinct), their locomotion modalities are also diverse. In particular, animal mo ...

EPFL2023

Reaction wavefront theory of notochord segment patterning

Andrew Charles Oates

The vertebrate axis is segmented into repetitive structures, the vertebrae. In fish, these segmented structures are thought to form from the paraxial mesoderm and the adjacent notochord. Recent work revealed an autonomous patterning mechanism in the zebraf ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2022

Uncovering the neural substrates of communication between the brain and ventral nerve cord in Drosophila melanogaster (italic)

Florian Aymanns

Despite a long history of research in motor control, the exact mechanism of how the brain communicates with the the invertebrate ventral nerve cord (VNC) and the vertebrate spinal cord on a single neuron basis remains largely elusive. Drosophila melanogast ...

EPFL2022

Hunting for the wavefront: investigation of somite boundary positioning in zebrafish

Arianne Bercowsky Rama

Somitogenesis is the rhythmic and sequential formation of somites, which are tissue blocks that give rise to segmented adult body structures including the vertebrae and associated muscle. Somite formation is controlled by the segmentation clock, a populati ...

EPFL2022

Disruption of layer-specific visual processing in a model of focal neocortical epilepsy

Silvestro Micera, Matteo Vissani

The epileptic brain is the result of a sequence of events transforming normal neuronal populations into hyperexcitable networks supporting recurrent seizure generation. These modifications are known to induce fundamental alterations of circuit function and ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC2022

Electrical spinal cord stimulation protocols to regulate motor and autonomic functions in people with neurological disorders

Robin Jonathan Demesmaeker

Neurological disorders such as spinal cord injury (SCI) massively reduce independence and quality of life. Most often, the majority of the nervous system is still fully or partially spared, but dysfunctional due to aberrant or absent descending input from ...

EPFL2021

Elezanumab, a human anti-RGMa monoclonal antibody, promotes neuroprotection, neuroplasticity, and neurorecovery following a thoracic hemicompression spinal cord injury in non-human primates

Grégoire Courtine, Quentin Barraud, Lili Huang, Xiaomeng Zhang

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition characterized by loss of function, secondary to damaged spinal neurons, disrupted axonal connections, and myelin loss. Spontaneous recovery is limited, and there are no approved pharmaceutical treatments ...

2021

HOX13-dependent chromatin accessibility underlies the transition towards the digit development program

Alexandre Gauthier Aurèle Mayran

Hox genes encode transcription factors (TFs) that establish morphological diversity in the developing embryo. The similar DNA-binding motifs of the various HOX TFs contrast with the wide-range of HOX-dependent genetic programs. The influence of the chromat ...

Nature Research2020

Refinements of hybrid neurophysical volume conductor models and application to study epidural electrical stimulation of the cervical spinal cord

Nathan Antoine Greiner

After spinal cord injury (SCI), the communication between the brain and spinal neural circuits below the lesion is disrupted, leading to paralysis. Epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of the lumbosacral spinal cord has been shown to restore locomotion an ...

EPFL2020

Patterning and mechanics of somite boundaries in zebrafish embryos

Andrew Charles Oates, Sundar Ram Naganathan

The body axis of vertebrates is subdivided into repetitive compartments called somites, which give rise primarily to the segmented architecture of the musculoskeletal system in the adult body. Somites form in a sequential and rhythmic manner in embryos and ...

2020

Corticolumbar dynamics during recovery after spinal cord injury

Selin Anil

In humans, a severe spinal cord contusion interrupts the vast majority of supraspinal projections to the spinal cord below the lesion. Permanent paralysis results from the chronic failure of these spared projections to engage lumbar circuits producing leg ...

EPFL2020

Spatiotemporal stimulation strategies in neuroprostheses to improve locomotion after spinal cord injury

Jérôme Gandar

Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts communication within central nervous system and lead to range of neurological disorders including paralysis. Current rehabilitation strategies to restore locomotion are poorly effective in people with severe SCI. Epidural ...

EPFL2019

Combined rehabilitation promotes recovery of motor functionality in a mouse model of stroke

Silvestro Micera, Maria Pasquini

Neuro-rehabilitative research is developing novel strategies to enhance the effectiveness of therapies after stroke by using a combination of physical and plasticizing treatments 1-3. Previous studies have shown that repeated optogenetics stimulation of ne ...

SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING2019