Current lab members:
- Eric RÖTTINGER, DR2 CNRS
- Aldine AMIEL, IR2 INSERM (70%)
- Renaud REBILLARD, TCS CNRS (20%)
- Aurore VULLIEN, PhD student
- Rita ANDREONI, PhD student
- Kai HOFMAENNER, PhD student
- Mickael WURTZ, PhD student
- Marine DANIEL, IE CDD CNRS
Lab Alumni:
Certain marine animals such as cnidarians (sea anemones, corals and “jellyfish) possess so-called whole body regenerative capacities, as they can reform fully functional organisms from most isolated body parts or even dissociated cells. Another interesting property of symbiotic cnidarians is their ability to resists and adapt to high environmental stress, such as expositions to intracellular ROS, at levels known to be devastating for mammalian cells by enhancing the aging process. Importantly, this extreme regenerative potential, the impressive ROS resistance and plasticity to adapt to drastic environmental variations are accompanied by an extended lifespan / immortality in a large set of these marine animals.
We take advantage of these interesting and intriguing biological features of cnidarians to decipher their underlying cellular, molecular, biochemical and genetic mechanisms. Our multidisciplinary and integrative research developed with local, national and international academic collaborators aims to obtain a novel view of cnidarian regeneration, stress response and extreme longevity. Ultimately, our research will participate in improving our understanding of how these marine invertebrates prevent aging and age-related diseases, discoveries that will subsequently be transferred to vertebrate/human related research within the IRCAN and our network of collaborators with the long-term goal of creating novel opportunities for regenerative medicine and aging research.
Our principal research aims focusing on complementary anthozoan cnidarian research models, particularly the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis are:
A) Characterize the tissular, cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying whole body regeneration.
B) Understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the high environmental stress resistance.
C) Determine how cnidarians prevent aging and aging-related diseases.
Resources developed by the team are available as soon as possible through freely accessible and intuitive online repositories (e.g. nvertx.kahikai.org). In addition to our research, members of the team are intensely involved in fostering interdisciplinary research (e.g. IFR MARRES) and teaching activities at the University Nice Sophia Antipolis and Université Côte d’Azur / University Cote d’Azur (e.g. MSc MARRES, Life Science School) as well as outreach activities (workshops, conferences, photo exhibitions) in tight interaction with the non-profit organization Kahi Kai (www.kahikai.org) in order to promote the importance of marine organisms for fundamental as well as applied aging research.
Current Projects
Top Publications
Lab News
-
Double Recognition for IRCAN: ANTIAGE Platform Receives IBiSA Accreditation, and 3D-Hub-S is Reaccredited
We are delighted to share two major accomplishments for IRCAN’s research platforms: ANTIAGE Platform: Innovation in Aging Research The ANTIAGE platform is dedicated to studying the fundamental mechanisms of stress […]
-
Fête de la Science 2024
IRCAN was once again present at the Village des Sciences de Nice on October 11, 12 and 13 to talk about our research with: – middle and high school students […]
-
EMBO workshop « The molecular and cellular basis of regeneration and tissue repair »
The IRCAN is excited to partner, once again this year, with EMBO for a workshop titled « The molecular and cellular basis of regeneration and tissue repair ». The venue is in […]
-
New Website!
Please enjoy our new website! We want to create a imersive hub for all news and events in the fields of cancer and ageing. if you see an error, please […]
Find out what projects IRCAN researchers are working on at the moment!
Find out about our platforms and services that drive our research.
IRCAN has a diverse research teams, tackling a wide range and resolution of topics in ageing and cancer.