Biography

Dr Gavard received her Ph.D. from University Paris VI in 2004, graduating Cum Laude in Cell Biology and Development. Her Ph.D. thesis revealed the dynamic organization of cell-cell contacts at the neuromuscular junction. She joined Dr Silvio Gutkind’s laboratory at NIH, USA, where she demonstrated that vascular permeability increase basically involved the endocytosis of the cell-cell adhesion molecule VE-cadherin. Her pioneer work was awarded by the NIH (Fellow Award for Research Excellence, 2007) and received the cover picture of Nature Cell Biology and Developmental Cell. In 2008, she was appointed permanent researcher at CNRS to join the Institute Cochin, Paris and was granted with a Marie Curie reintegration award. She rapidly established an independent team, focusing her research on the signaling mechanisms involved in non-oncogene addiction and loss of vascular homeostasis. She also serves as a scientific expert for international and national agencies and charities and has given numerous lectures around the world on her work on vascular permeability in tumors. She is currently leading an emerging team in the Research Cancer Center in Nantes-Angers. In 2012, Dr Gavard was given the honorary Bronze Medal from CNRS.