Matthieu D. Lavigne

Biography

I recently started my group at IMBB-FORTH in Greece as researcher C and I am also acting as scientific head of the Genomics core facility. The general goals of my research are directed towards the characterization of molecular transactions ruling healthy gene expression programs. I focus on essential chromatin- and transcription-related processes participating in i) coding and non-coding gene expression regulation, ii) maintaining genome integrity in the face of environmental and genetic perturbations and iii) characterising gene regulatory networks (GRNs) driving cells to commit into a given developmental or pathogenic path. Mapping of molecular assemblies in 4D (space and time) by biochemical and NGS-based approaches reveals switches that control homeostatic v pathogenic transcription states at single cells (sc) or bulk levels and enables us to understand when/how these pathways go eerie in disease. Deciphering fundamental gene control mechanisms will help designing/developing better drugs and we take advantage of biologically inspired machine learning (ML) approaches and theoretical modeling to validate/infer our hypotheses.

I graduated with a MSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the UPMC, Paris V (Sorbonne) in France in 2002. I obtained my PhD in Molecular Medicine in 2006 in the lab of Dr Górecki, at the IBBS, University of Portsmouth, UK. I became particularly interested in understanding "how the engine of life works" and moved to understand the molecular/cellular basis ruling human physiology before one can efficiently fix problems. Fascinated by the fields of transcription regulation, chromatin I became obsessed with understanding how specific genes encoded in our DNA are accurately expressed at appropriate time for normal cell functions and cycling. I started a post-Doctoral fellowship in Dr Thanos lab at the BRFAA, Greece, and gained expertise in NGS and systems biology to discover a key mechanism of epigenetic transcription regulation involving composite nucleosomes as noise suppressors and robustness generators. I then worked as a senior Post-doc in the lab of Dr Fousteri at the BSRC Fleming in Greece and characterized an unanticipated transcriptional elongation 'safe' mode, which through continuous initiation and global release of RNA polymerase guarantees i) normal recovery of transcription processes after DNA damage, and ii) the uniform maintenance of a low risk of mutagenesis in actively transcribed genes and enhancers, thus limiting possibilities of cancer and premature aging.