Julie ChaumeilInstitut Cochin - Inserm / CNRS / Université Paris Descartes
Mes recherches
Throughout my different research experiences, I have always been interested in the understanding of the role of epigenetic mechanisms, 3D-nuclear organization and genome conformation in the set up and maintenance of developmental programs and homeostasis, and how their dysregulation can lead to diseases. My PhD work focused on the process of X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) in female mammals, under the supervision of Pr. Edith Heard at the Institut Curie, Paris, France. I then moved to Australia for a first post-doc on the evolution of XCI in the lab of Pr. Jenny Graves at ANU. I then joined the lab of Pr. Jane Skok at New York University Medical Center in the US where I moved to the field of hematopoiesis and the process of V(D)J recombination. I then got awarded with an ATIP-Avenir grant, and I started my research group at the Institut Cochin (Paris, France) in 2016. We have several projects and collaborations to try to better understand the role of genome conformation and organization within the nuclear space in gene regulation during hematopoiesis, leukemia progression and immune response.
Mon projet ATIP-Avenir
Role of nuclear organization, genome conformation and chromatin environment on the regulation gene expression and V(D)J recombination during lymphocyte differentiation
Modulation of chromatin, non-coding RNAs, 3D genome folding and nuclear organization is tightly linked to the regulation of gene expression and nuclear functions like DNA recombination. Alterations in these epigenomic features are linked to numerous diseases, like cancer. Hematopoiesis is the key-differentiation program allowing the daily release of billions of blood cells. Moreover, in lymphocytes, V(D)J recombination is the key-process by which the antigen receptor repertoire is created. As these processes occur every day in millions of cells, even a tiny error rate can lead to leukemia, lymphomas and immune-related diseases. Although epigenomic features have been correlated with the regulation of these programs, their functional role and the consequences of their alterations in the origins of diseases are still largely unknown. The project of our team is to explore these key questions using a unique combination of single-cell to genome-wide approaches, in different ex-vivo cell models. This should provide important insights into the role of genome and nuclear dynamics in gene regulation and the preservation of genome and cell integrity.