Claire Wyart

Claire Julie Liliane Wyart (born 16 February 1977) is a French neuroscientist and biophysicist, studying the circuits underlying the control of locomotion. She is a chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite.

Claire Wyart
Claire Wyart in 2013
Born (1977-02-16) February 16, 1977
CitizenshipFrance
Alma materÉcole Normale Supérieure
University of Strasbourg
Children3
AwardsChevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience, biophysics
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Berkeley
Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière (current)
ThesisDynamique de l'activité spontanée dans des réseaux de neurones hippocampiques d'architecture contrôlée en culture (2003)
Doctoral advisorDidier Chatenay
Websitewww.wyartlab.org

Early life

Wyart was born into a family of scientists. Her mother, Françoise Brochard-Wyart, is a prominent French physicist, and a professor at the Curie Institute.[1] Her father, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, was a Nobel-prize winning physicist.[2] As their father was mostly absent, Wyart and her siblings were raised by their mother, though Claire thought of him as "the pillar who held our family together".[2][3]

Education

Wyart studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.[4] She then undertook a PhD in biophysics at the Université Louis Pasteur (now University of Strasbourg), which she completed in 2003.[4] Working in the lab of Didier Chatenay,[5] she studied small networks of controlled architecture.[6]

Research and career

Wyart did five years of postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley between 2005 and 2010.[6] She worked for a year in Noam Sobel's lab, investigating the effects of smelling compounds in body secretions.[5] She then worked in Udi Isacoff,[5] using optogenetics — the modulation of neuronal activity using light — to study the control of behaviour in zebrafish larvae.[6]

In 2011, she started her own lab at the Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière (ICM, Brain and Spine Institute) in Paris.[6] Wyart has received international funding for her research, from bodies such as the European Research Council, the Human Frontier Science Program and the National Institutes of Health.[1] Her team investigates how neuromodulatory pathways of the Central Nervous System (the brain and spinal cord) affect locomotion and posture. Her lab has three main areas of research: the effect of neuromodulation and peptide release on reticulospinal neurons, and on neurons in contact with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); the links between CSF and body axis formation and scoliosis; and new strategies to treat spinal cord trauma.[6] In an interview in 2015, she explained that her aim was to understand how to reactivate motor circuits in humans.[1]

Her lab's particular focus is ciliated neurons which contact the CSF; such neurons integrate both mechanical and chemical signals, and project onto spinal cord motor circuits.[3] Along with brain circuits and reflexes, these neurons represent a third circuit governing locomotion.[3] The morphology and markers expressed by these neurons, discovered in zebrafish, are conserved in other animals including mice and macaques.[7][8] Wyart's team has also demonstrated that these neurons can detect the curvature of the spinal cord.[9][8]

In collaboration with her former PhD student Olivier Mirat, Wyart launched ZebraZoom, a software to analyse zebrafish larvae behaviour.[10]

She serves on the advisory board of Current Biology,[11] on the board of directors of the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence,[12][13] and on the scientific council of the Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale (FRM).[14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she collaborated with Marie-Claude Potier to develop a screening test for the virus using sputum and saliva samples.[15]

Science communication and outreach

While studying for her PhD, Wyart ran a science workshop for children twice a month at the Exploradome museum.[5] After completing her PhD, she spent a year working for the Terma project in Nepal and India, teaching science in Tibetan schools by using practical experiments.[5] This work was rewarded with a "Défi Jeunes" award.[16] With her team at the ICM, she uses zebrafish larva to teach primary and middle school children the basics of development.[5]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wyart and her colleague Virginie Courtier-Orgozozo launched a website showcasing advice from experts and helpful tips for the public on how to stay safe.[17][18][12] The website was subsequently translated into multiple languages.[18][15] In an article by Michael Gross published in Current Biology, she is quoted as saying: "We deeply believe that it is the role of scientists to inform society and to provide the public with cues and methodology for them to be able to make better choices and to navigate safely in our new environment that we share with the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus. We hope to inspire our colleagues around the world to join and help in this fight against both the virus’ spread and misinformation for the public good.”[17]

Awards and honours
Claire Wyart, centre, receiving the Irene Joliot Curie Award in 2013.
  • Best thesis award from the University Louis Pasteur scientific council (2004)[4]
  • “Défi Jeunes” award for the science project Terma (2004)[4]
  • “Fondation Blancmesnil” award for the documentary Terma (2005)[4]
  • Marie Curie Outgoing International Post-doctorate Fellowship (OIF) (2007–10)[4]
  • Society for Neuroscience Award (2009)[4]
  • Bettencourt-Schueller foundation award (2010)[4][16]
  • FYSSEN foundation award (2010)[4]
  • Atip-Avenir Junior Team Award (2010)[4]
  • Chair of Excellence, Ecole des Neurosciences de Paris (ENP) (2010)[4]
  • International Reintegration Grant (2011)[4]
  • Prix Emergences de la Mairie de Paris (2011)[4]
  • European Research Council Starting Grant (2012)[4]
  • Irene Joliot Curie Young Research Award (2013)[4][19]
  • Human Frontier Science Program Research Grant (coordinator) (2014)[4]
  • Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (2014)[20]
  • Laureate, Fondation Schlumberger pour l’Education et la Recherche (2017)[4][8]
  • New York Stem Cell Foundation Robertson Neuroscience Investigator (2016)[4][21][22]
  • EMBO-Young Investigator Award (2016)[4][23]
  • FENS-Kavli Scholar (2016-2020)[5]
  • Human Frontier Science Award (2018)[24]
  • Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) (2019)[25]

References
  1. Vidaud, Emilie (2015-12-14). "Claire Wyart : Tête chercheuse". Decideurs Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  2. Plévert, Laurence. (2011). Pierre-Gilles de Gennes : a life in science. Singapore: World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-4355-26-1. OCLC 794595789.
  3. Rosier, Florence (2017-02-06). "Claire Wyart illumine le mouvement". Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  4. "École des Neurosciences Paris Île de France". www.paris-neuroscience.fr. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  5. Office, FENS. "Claire WYART". FENS.org. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  6. "Équipe Scientifiques". Institut du Cerveau (in French). Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  7. Djenoune, Lydia; Khabou, Hanen; Joubert, Fanny; Quan, Feng B.; Nunes Figueiredo, Sophie; Bodineau, Laurence; Del Bene, Filippo; Burcklé, Céline; Tostivint, Hervé; Wyart, Claire (2014-05-06). "Investigation of spinal cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons expressing PKD2L1: evidence for a conserved system from fish to primates". Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 8: 26. doi:10.3389/fnana.2014.00026. ISSN 1662-5129. PMC 4018565. PMID 24834029.
  8. FSER, Cercle. "Cercle FSER". Cercle FSER (in French). Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  9. Böhm, Urs Lucas; Prendergast, Andrew; Djenoune, Lydia; Nunes Figueiredo, Sophie; Gomez, Johanna; Stokes, Caleb; Kaiser, Sonya; Suster, Maximilliano; Kawakami, Koichi; Charpentier, Marine; Concordet, Jean-Paul (April 2016). "CSF-contacting neurons regulate locomotion by relaying mechanical stimuli to spinal circuits". Nature Communications. 7 (1): 10866. doi:10.1038/ncomms10866. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 4786674. PMID 26946992.
  10. "ZebraZoom". zebrazoom.org. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  11. "Cell Press: Current Biology". www.cell.com. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  12. "Adios Corona - COVID, Coronavirus, advice, information and scientific articles | About Us". Adios Corona - COVID, Coronavirus, advice, information and scientific articles. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  13. "Governance – FKNE". Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  14. "Le Conseil scientifique". Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (in French). Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  15. Dessaux, Marine. "Cette chercheuse a fait face à la crise en plaçant le collectif avant tout". Campus Matin : Le magazine des professionnels et des académiques de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (in French). Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  16. "Wyart". Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  17. Gross, Michael (2020-07-06). "Communicating science in a crisis". Current Biology. 30 (13): R737–R739. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.052. ISSN 0960-9822. PMC 7309907.
  18. "Updates on the NYSCF Community's Fight Against COVID-19". New York Stem Cell Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  19. "Prix Irène Joliot-Curie 2013 : quatre femmes d'exception récompensées". Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation (in French). Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  20. Décret du 14 mai 2014 portant promotion et nomination, retrieved 2020-08-17
  21. "Claire Wyart, PhD". New York Stem Cell Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  22. "NYSCF Announces the Six Members of the 2016 Class of NYSCF - Robertson Investigators". New York Stem Cell Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  23. "Find an EMBO Young Investigator / EMBO Installation Grantee / EMBO Global Investigator". yip-search.embo.org. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  24. "Three NYSCF Innovators Receive Prestigious Awards". New York Stem Cell Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  25. "Claire Wyart elected as EMBO member". Institut du Cerveau. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
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