A physicist by training, I work on intestinal and uterine physiology. Our approach is mostly experimental, on avian, murine and human tissues, in collaboration with hospital staff and biologists on both topics.

On the intestine, I’m interested in the physical factors – mechanical and electrical – at work in the embryonic development of this organ, in particular the smooth muscle, the enteric nervous system (the “second brain”), and the interstitial cells of Cajal (the “pacemakers”). Our current work focuses on the spontaneous electrical activity of intestinal embryonic neural crest cells and their role in differentiation, migration and proliferation.

On the uterus, we are trying to understand the origin of uterine hypercontractility in endometriosis, adenomyosis and severe dysmenorrhea. These pathologies have very high prevalence (~10-40 %). Contractility could be a fundamental cause of the development of this disease, and a therapeutic target. Our approach is both structural (immunohistochemistry) and physiological (measurement of contractility, calcium imaging).

Uterine contractility in endometriosis, adenomyosis, dysmenorrhea

We work in collaboration with Hôpital Paris Saint Joseph (C. Abo, J. Adam, MC Lamau, E. Petit) Centre Hospitalier Valenciennes (E. Poncelet) on hysterectomy samples from women with adenomyosis or other « control » conditions (myoma), performing machine-learning assisted histology, ex-vivo contractility assays and calcium imaging to solve the question : why is the uterus hypercontractile in endometriosis, adenomyosis and sever dysmenorrhea ? What can we do about it to improve women’ health ?

Neural Crest Cell Migration. Neural crest cells are an intrinsic part of who we are: they form our peripheral nervous system, the bones of our jaw, our skin pigments and our gut’s intrinsic innervation, the enteric nervous system (the « second brain »). Neural crest cell migration defects during embryogenesis give rise to a range of pathologies referred collectively as neurocristopathies. I work together with biologists and geneticists to understand the factors that control neural crest cells migration & differentiation.

Peristalsis. The intestine and the uterus are pumps. The intestine transports the food

bolus by propagating electro-mechanical constrictions of the gut wall. This active transport mode is fundamental and common to most metazoans (pluricellular organisms): it has enabled them to grow by overcoming the size-limit imposed by simple diffusive food transport. Peristalsis starts very early on during embryogenesis: we are identifying the fundamental mechanisms underlying these early coordinated movements. This will allow us to better understand motility disorders.

Growth. The adult intestine is on average 5m long , and only a few centimeters in diameter. These spectacular dimensions result from strong anisotropic growth during embryogenesis. I work on the physical and biochemical factors involved in gut growth. This research has both fundamental implications – understanding how organs grow – and applied medical perspectives for organ regeneration methods. As cancerous tumours often aberrantly resume embryonic organ growth programs in adults, we also hope our research can lead to a better understanding of tumor growth.  

Methods.  I am keen on developing new methods that fit our research needs. We have developed with V. Fleury a new elastography method for tissues and soft materials based on fluid-jet indentation, and introduced the use of the atomic force microscope to obtain elastography maps of embryonic tissue sections. Here is a non-exhaustive list fo the experimental methods we apply.

Microscopy	Biology	Physics
Time-lapse Fluorescence Confocal Second Harmonic Generation Transmission & Scanning Electron	Organ culture Immunohistochemistry Western blots PCR	Micromechanical tool development Atomic Force Microscopy Electrophysiology Finite Element Simulation & Modeling

 Before turning to these biological systems, I worked on crystal growth phenomena: Liesegang rings, colloidal crystals, heterogeneous nucleation and biomineralization. I keep a fond interest for these research areas. I am also head of the French International Young Physicist Tournament association, an experimental physics competition for high-school students. I have a keen interest in history of science and I am an amateur cellist.