Group leader: Jean-René Martin

Functional Brain Imaging & Behavior

In brief

Aging, longevity, and neurodegenerative diseases are major concerns of public health. Our team is focalized on the characterization of the role of a new snoRNA (jouvence) that we have identified in Drosophila. Jouvence increases lifespan and protects against neurodegenerative lesions. It is required in the epithelium of the gut, revealing a new gut-brain axis. Since the snoRNAs are well conserved through evolution, we have identified its homologue in human, and we are currently characterizing its role in human culture cells. In parallel, using the in-vivo functional brain imaging approach that we have developed in our laboratory, based on bioluminescence, we study the role of the particular retrograde peak of Ca2+-activity in the Mushroom-Bodies, and more precisely its role in anaesthesia, whose represents a new model/system to study the consciousness.