Fate specification in the developing nervous system

I am a developmental neurobiologist interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain development, especially neuronal fate specification and cell death/survival in the cerebral cortex. My aim is to understand the gene regulatory networks underpinning these processes and how their dysregulations can lead to pathologies.

We typically use single-cell RNAseq to characterize progenitor cells, mature neurons and intermediate cell states, allowing to reconstruct the developmental differentiation trajectories for distinct lineages. We combine with mouse genetics to investigate pathways of interest, using histology for tissue validation.

I was trained at the Magistère de Biologie from Ecole Normale Supérieure, and obtained my PhD from Université Paris VI in 2004. I did a postdoc at Imperial College (London, UK) and rejoined France in 2007 with an Inserm Junior position before becoming a tenured Inserm researcher in 2012. I obtained my HDR from Université Paris VII in 2014. I was appointed as a Theme Leader by the scientific advisory board of Imagine in 2021. I am also an elected representative of Imagine researchers and a gender equality representative.

Selected recent publications:

• Moreau M, Saillour Y, Elorriaga V, Bouloudi B, Delberghe E, Deutsch Guerrero T, Ochandorena-Saa A, Maeso-Alonso L, Marques MM, Marin MC, Spassky N, Pierani A, Causeret F* (2023) Repurposing of the multiciliation gene regulatory network in fate specification of Cajal-Retzius neurons. Dev Cell 58(15):1365-1382.e6. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.05.011
• Elorriaga V, Pierani A, Causeret F* (2023) Cajal-retzius cells: Recent advances in identity and function. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 79:102686. DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102686
• Causeret F*, Fayon M, Moreau MX, Ne E, Oleari R, Parras C, Cariboni A, Pierani A (2023) Diversity within olfactory sensory derivatives revealed by the contribution of Dbx1 lineages. J Comp Neurol. 531(12):1229-1243. DOI: 10.1002/cne.25492
• Moreau MX, Saillour Y, Cwetsch AW, Pierani A*, Causeret F* (2021) Single-cell transcriptomics of the early developing mouse cerebral cortex disentangles the spatial and temporal components of neuronal fate acquisition. Development 148(14):dev197962. DOI: 10.1242/dev.197962
• Causeret F, Moreau MX, Pierani A, Blanquie O (2021) The multiple facets of Cajal-Retzius neurons. Development 148(11):dev199409. DOI: 10.1242/dev.199409

Team members :

Vicente Elorriaga, PhD student

Juliette Morel, PhD student

Elodie Delberghe, Engineer

Benjamin Bremaud, Master student

Liloïe de la Guillonière, Master student, Neuropediatry intern

Alumni:

Matthieu Moreau, PhD

Iffat Sumia, PhD

Thandi Philippe

Tanya Deutsch-Guerrero

Stephen Babin

Esther Hondré

Full publication list and ORCID profile