Editorial

About the laboratory

The research field of the Brain Plasticity laboratory is the study of the molecular, cellular, anatomical and behavioral mechanisms of neuroplasticity. This theme is addressed by an integrated multidisciplinary approach, combining genetics, molecular and cellular biology, neural network studies, brain imaging, physiology and behavior.

Our laboratory brings together researchers interested in understanding the functioning of the brain at different scales, in order to develop collaborations and synergies. Complementary biological models are studied, the brain of the Drosophila (Thomas Preat & Pierre-Yves Plaçais’s team, Serge Birman’s team and Raouf Issa’s team), the brain of mammals (Karim Benchenane’s team, Philippe Faure & Alexandre Mourot’s team and Gisella Vetere’s team), and the human brain.

The unique situation of the Brain Plasticity laboratory, within ESPCI Paris, allows us to develop unusual and fruitful bridges between neurobiology and physics.

In the light and continuity of the study of basic mechanisms of neuroplasticity, our projects include, concretely or potentially, applications to human cerebral pathology. We are interested in psychiatric illnesses (depression, addiction, stress) (Karim Benchenane’s team and Philippe Faure & Alexandre Mourot’s team), understanding neuronal mechanisms involved in sleep physiology (Karim Benchenane’s team), understanding neural codes and brain plasticity underlying memory processes (Gisella Vetere’s team) and reinforcement learning (Philippe Faure & Alexandre Mourot’s team) or studying Genetic models in Drosophila, molecular mechanisms involved in Parkinson’s disease (Serge Birman’s team), Alzheimer’s disease (Thomas Preat & Pierre-Yves Plaçais’s team) and movement disorders (Raouf Issa’s team). The applied nature of this work, particularly in physics and neuropathology, suggests that they may lead to valuations at the industrial level (brain-computer interface, caracterisation of molecules).



News

Semaine du cerveau : Conférence expérimentale lundi 11 Mars à 18h30 - Karim Benchenane

Émotion et interaction entre le corps et le cerveau Il y a un lien intriguant entre le corps et les émotions. Est-ce que les changements corporels sont simplement des manifestations des émotions ? Ou bien jouent-ils un rôle actif dans nos réactions émotionnelles ? Ces questions ont été longuement débattue, notamment entre les écoles de...

Nouvelle traduction : Semaine du cerveau : Conférence experimental de A. Mourot

Photopharmacologie: que la lumière soigne Conference by Alexandre Mourot, as part of the brain week, in Paris at the Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes on March 13, 2023 at 18:30 Lien semaine du cerveau

Brixham Foundation price to Thomas Preat

On Monday, November 15, 2021, Thomas Preat was granted with the Brixham Foundation Prize intended to support biomedical research on the brain, by a jury of the Foundation for Medical Research made up of members of the Scientific Council. The jury wished to honor Thomas Preat for his work on the plasticity of the Drosophila brain, and more...

Each year, the Jeunes Talents France program...

Each year, the Jeunes Talents France program rewards 35 talented women scientists at the PhD and post-doctoral levels. Lauren Reynolds, a post-doctoral fellow in the Neurophysiology and Behavior team (led by Philippe Faure and Alexandre Mourot) is one of the winners.

Gisella Vetere : Head of a the new Team C4

Gisella VETERE, Professor at ESPCI Paris, is heading a new team of the Brain Plasticity Unit, C4 (Cerebral Codes and Circuits Connectivity) from August 2018. Her group will study the neural mechanisms governing memory acquisition and consolidation in mice and how these processes change the neural plasticity.

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Recent publications

Prolonged nicotine exposure reduces aversion to the drug in mice by altering nicotinic transmission in the interpeduncular nucleus

Elife 2023
Sarah Mondoloni, Claire Nguyen, Eléonore Vicq, Maria Ciscato, Joachim Jehl, Romain Durand-de Cuttoli, Nicolas Torquet, Stefania Tolu, Stéphanie Pons, Uwe Maskos, Fabio Marti, Philippe... (...)


Dopaminergic and prefrontal dynamics co-determine mouse decisions in a spatial gambling task

Cell Report 2023
Elise Bousseyrol, Steve Didienne, Samir Takillah, Clement Solié, Maxime Come, Tarek Ahmed Yahia, Sarah Mondoloni, Eléonore Vicq, Ludovic Tricoire, Alexandre Mourot, Jérémie Naudé,... (...)


Glia fuel neurons with locally synthesized ketone bodies to sustain memory under starvation

Nature Metabolism 2022 4, pages 213–224 (2022)
Bryon Silva, Olivier L. Mantha, Johann Schor, Alberto Pascual, Pierre-Yves Plaçais, Alice Pavlowsky & Thomas Preat
Abstract

During starvation,... (...)


Breathing-driven prefrontal oscillations regulate maintenance of conditioned-fear evoked freezing independently of initiation

Nature Communications (2021) volume 12-2605
Sophie Bagur, Julie M. Lefort, Marie M. Lacroix, Gaëtan de Lavilléon, Cyril Herry, Mathilde Chouvaeff, Clara Billand, Hélène Geoffroy & Karim... (...)


Chronic nicotine increases midbrain dopamine neuron activity and biases individual strategies towards reduced exploration in mice

Nature Communications volume 12, Article number: 6945 (2021)
Malou Dongelmans, Romain Durand-de Cuttoli, Claire Nguyen, Maxime Come, Etienne K. Duranté, Damien Lemoine, Raphaël Brito, Tarek Ahmed... (...)


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Practical information

Unit Director
Thomas PREAT
thomas.preat (arobase) espci.fr

Deputy Director
Philippe FAURE
philippe.faure (arobase) espci.fr

Administrator
Hélène Geoffroy
helene.geoffroy (arobase) espci.fr

Jeldy Cubas Hernandez
jeldy.cubas-hernandez (arobase) espci.fr

Phone : +33 (0) 1 40 79 43 02

To contact us