Déborah Bourc'his is a French researcher in

Epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

. She is currently a team leader at the

Curie Institute (Paris) Centre of protontherapy Institut Curie is a medical, biological and biophysical research centre in France. It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a hospital specialized in ...

. Her research has been awarded the prize Liliane-Bettencourt for life sciences.

Education and academic appointments

In 1996., she joins the laboratory of Evani Viegas-Pequignot to do a PhD in

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

in at the

Necker–Enfants Malades Hospital The Necker–Enfants Malades Hospital ( ) is a French teaching hospital in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. It is a hospital of the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris group and is affiliated to the Université Paris Cité. Necker–Enfa ...

. There, she identifies methylation mutations on

DNMT3B DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3 beta, is an enzyme that in humans in encoded by the DNMT3B gene. Mutation in this gene are associated with immunodeficiency, centromere instability and facial anomalies syndrome. Function CpG methylation ...

. In 2000, she moves to the laboratory of Timothy Bestor at the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

to start her postdoctoral studies. In 2009, after being recruited at the French biomedical research institute

Inserm The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution ...

, she is invited by

Edith Heard Edith Heard (born 1965) is a British-French researcher in epigenetics who has been serving as the Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) since January 2019. She is also Professor at the Collège de France, holding ...

to start her own research team at the

Research

During her postdoctoral studies, she shows that germline cells require a specific stimulation to acquire DNA methylation, via the cofactor 3

DNMT3L DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3-like is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''DNMT3L'' gene. Function CpG methylation is an epigenetic modification that is important for embryonic development, imprinting, and X-chromosome inacti ...

. Déborah Bourc'his runs a research team studying epigenetic decisions and reproduction in the department 'Genetics and Developmental biology' of the Curie Institute. Her research focuses on understanding the regulation of epigenetic information within the peri-conception window, from

Gametogenesis Gametogenesis is a biological process by which diploid or haploid precursor cells undergo cell division and differentiation to form mature haploid gametes. Depending on the biological life cycle of the organism, gametogenesis occurs by meiotic d ...

to early embryonic development. She has published several key publications in the field. Her work has been awarded several prestigious prizes.

Awards

* 2017: Lilianne Bettencourt Schueller prize for research in life sciences * 2010: Prize from Schlumberger Foundation for Education and Research

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourc'his, Deborah French geneticists Women geneticists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Inserm people