Biography

Etienne Roux first worked on the study of the reactivity of the airways and pulmonary arteries, combining an experimental approach on cells, isolated tissues and whole animal, with a theoretical computational approach. His work focused on the identification of intracellular pathways of excitation-contraction of bronchial and arterial smooth muscle. Changes in the reactivity of the airways and pulmonary arteries have been studied in various pathologies such as exposure to air pollutants, asthma, and chronic hypoxia.

Since he joined the INSERM U1034 unit, Etienne Roux has been working on the role of endothelial cells in the structure and functionality of vascular networks. He works in particular on the quantitative characterization of the morphological and functional properties of arterial and capillary vascular networks by three-dimensional imaging. These imaging techniques, by microscanner and light-sheet microscopy, are applied to different mouse models genetically modified for endothelial signaling pathways and models of cardiac and renal pathologies.

In these studies, experimental biology is combined with methods of theoretical biology (mathematical models, computational analyzes of morphological data) and a theoretical analysis of the relevant biological concepts (in particular the concepts of function, of functional adequacy and dysfunction, and of regulation and self-organization). For this, Etienne Roux works with biophysicists and philosophers of biology, and has developed national and international collaborations, in particular with the universities of Oxford (UK), Maribor (Slovenia), Auckland) and the Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (Paris).