Interview Sandrine Baghdoyan

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Interview Sandrine Baghdoyan 


Sandrine Baghdoyan , Research Engineer INSERM

Sandrine Baghdoyan , Research Engineer INSERM

Principal Investigator "Functional genomics Team"

1. On which pathology is your research focused on I-Stem ?

 
Our team is implicated in two separated programs: the screening of gene by extinction or over-expression to rescue the mutant phenotype of cells harbouring a genetic mutation related to a disease and the production of engineered cell lines for the study of the cardiac differentiation.
Concerning our first program, we are working on molecular mechanisms implicated in the Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 (DM1) still called Steinert disease. It is the most common adult-onset muscular dystrophy. DM1appears mainly by a muscular weakness associated with myotony, cardiac conduction defects, cataract, insulin-resistance and neuro-psychiatric disturbances.
Concerning our second program, we hope that the cellular tools we are developing will helps in the field of the therapeutic of cardiac insufficiency.
 

2. What are your expectations from stem cells within your research area ?

 
We are particularly interested by the self renewal and the pluripotency of the stem cells. These two properties give to us the opportunity to produce a large quantity of cells differentiated in the tissue we are interested in.
 

3. What is specifically relevant in hES cells research ?

 
Concerning our researches on functional genomic, we are particularly interested in human embryonic stem cells carrying a genetic mutation causal of a disease. Thanks to these cell lines, we now have at one’s disposal some physiological cellular models for several pathologies.
Concerning our work on the production of engineered human embryonic stem cell lines dedicated to the study of cardiac differentiation, we also have thanks to the human embryonic stem cells of a unique cellular model allowing the study of the cardiac differentiation starting form the mesoderm formation to the obtaining of cardiomyocytes.
 

4. Which aims are you expecting to reach within the next 10 years ?

 
In the 10 years to come, we hope to have identified several therapeutic targets for the DM1 thanks to the description of genes able to modify the expression of the pathological phenotype in the cells carrying the causal mutation of the disease. We hope that our work will finally lead to the development of a new treatment dedicated to the DM1.
As well, we hope to have developed various engineered human embryonic stem cell lines dedicated to the study of the cardiac lineage.
 
 



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