Our team is interested in the mechanisms which regulate gene expression during development and how alterations in these mechanisms can cause diseases. We focus our researches on a conserved family of epigenetic enzymes whose human homologs are implicated in the development of many pathologies, including blood cell cancer, neurodegenerative diseases or muscular dystrophies. Our objective is to shed light on the functions of these enzymes in vivo and to characterize their mode(s) of action.

Accordingly, our researches revolve along four interconnected axes:

(1) reveal the function of these factors in different biological contexts (blood cell development and response to immune challenges, adult muscle differentiation and maintenance, central nervous system development),

(2) define the impact of these factors on gene expression, chromatin modifications and genome organisation to better understand how they control transcription,

(3) identify their partners to bring further information about their molecular mechanism of action and their regulation,

(4) develop new genetic models to understand how deregulations in the activity of these factors can lead to pathological situations.

To tackle these questions, we use Drosophila melanogaster, a well-established animal model, and we use a broad combination of state-of-the art genetic, molecular and cellular techniques as well as genomic and bioinformatic approaches.