Françoise Gofflot

Narrative summary

Françoise Gofflot is a neurodevelopmental biologist whose interest is to understand the fundamental processes of formation and maturation of the central nervous system, more specifically the brain, and how disruption of these processes causes neurodevelopmental disorders. Her research explores this field by investigating the functions and mode of action of Hox genes/proteins in the late processes of brain development, using the mouse as model. Indeed, a pilot quantitative and neuroanatomical characterisation of the 39 Hox genes expression in the adult mouse brain highlighted the significance of Hox genes beyond their traditional role in patterning, suggesting their involvement in critical processes such as neural circuit formation, maturation, and plasticity.

To further investigate the functions of Hox genes at critical period of circuit formation and maturation during early postnatal stages, in vivo and in vitro methodological approaches are combined, focusing on Hoxa5, that plays a critical role in the successive stages of central nervous system formation during gestation. In vivo, conditional inactivation in transgenic mouse model, comparative transcriptomic analysis, and mouse behavioural assessment revealed that HOXA5 regulates key players involved in synapse function and support a correlation between HOXA5 and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as the autism spectrum disorder. In vitro, two neuronal cell models that replicate the endogenous expression of Hoxa5 in post-mitotic neurons were validated. To further evaluate the impact of HOXA5 in synaptogenesis, neuronal models using compartmentalized microfluidic devices are in development. 

In vitro models are further employed to dissect the mode of action of HOXA5, in particular how this transcription factor regulates specific functions in a cell-context-dependent manner during neuronal differentiation. The associated methodological approaches include ChIP-seq, proximity labelling assays, and proteomics.
Francoise Gofflot is full Professor at UCLouvain, and member of the Animal Molecular and Cell Biology research group. After a postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford and a research stay at the Mouse Clinical Institute in Strasbourg, she joined the UCLouvain with Ulysse Incentive Grant for Mobility in Scientific Research, before obtaining a permanent academic position.