Dr. Frédéric Charron

Developmental neurobiology, axon guidance, neural progenitor proliferation, brain tumours, cell signaling, nervous system development, RNA therapeutics.

(i) The brain is composed of billions of neurons that must connect with an appropriate set of targets to form the neuronal circuits that underlie brain function. Our goal is to understand how axons find their targets during embryonic development, a process known as axon guidance. Defects in axon guidance can lead to mirror movements, where voluntary movements on one side of the body are mirrored by involuntary movements on the opposite side. By identifying and studying genes involved in mirror movements, we are also reverse translating findings from patients to fundamental aspects of developmental neuroscience. (ii) In addition, we also study the molecular mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis of medulloblastoma, a pediatric brain cancer. We use pre-clinical disease models to investigate how genes promote or inhibit medulloblastoma development and to develop RNA therapeutics and other targeted therapies.