Scientific background: I am graduated in neurobiology (2007) from Louis Pasteur University-Strasbourg (France), where I studied neuro-developmental biology in the laboratory of Filippo Rijli at Institut de Génétique et Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC). My doctoral work demonstrated the crucial role of the homeobox transcription factors for the establishment of the sensory neuronal connectivity. I then moved to Columbia University – Medical Center, New York, USA, in the laboratory of Gerard Karsenty, where I gained expertise in neuro- and integrative-physiology, identifying novel endocrine functions of the skeleton in regulating gonadal, pancreatic and brain functions. In 2014, I decided to join the Institut Necker Enfants-Malades (INEM) in Paris to start my own group. I obtained a permanent INSERM position as CR1 in 2014 and as DR2 in 2019. My work is currently supported by the ATIP-Avenir, HFSP, FRM, ANR, INERM transfer, Allianz, Emergence de la ville de Paris, European foundation of diabetes, AGEMED et FSER program.
His team is currently using an interdisciplinary approach (neurobiology, cell biology, endocrinology and integrative physiology) to study to understand how brain functions are modulated by hormonal factors. Dr. Oury's laboratory recently contribute to the demonstration that the systemic factors are essential for the maintenance of the neuronal homeostasis, the brain plasticity and cognitive fitness. Among these factors, they identified Osteocalcin (Ocn): a bone derived hormone that plays an important role in regulating hippocampal-dependent memory and brain aging process. The most recent work of the team demonstrates that autophagy is a necessary mechanism to mediate the communication between circulating factors and hippocampal neurons and that pharmacological modulation of neuronal autophagy is able to improve memory deficits observed in aged mice. His laboratory has now a particular interest in developing novel therapeutic strategies to treat age-related cognitive disorders and associated diseases.
The main focus of my laboratory is to investigate the roles played by hormonal factors on the regulation of brain cognitive functions in normal, pathological and aging conditions.
Hormones are essential factors ensuring proper regulation of our physiological functions by mediating dialogue between organs. Their broad spectrum of actions is not limited to the peripheral organs. Some hormonal factors, such as leptin, insulin, thyroid hormones, steroid hormones reach the central nervous system (CNS) where they modulate the central regulation of whole-body metabolism.
Recently, it has been shown that they can also influence more intrinsic functions of the CNS, such as brain development, adult neurogenesis and cognitive functions. Importantly, increasing evidence suggests that changes in their circulating levels may contribute to age-related cognitive decline, as well as to the development of neurodegenerative diseases. While the functional importance of hormonal factors on brain activities is undeniable, their cellular and molecular mechanisms of action are unclear. Moreover, although the brain expresses receptors for most, if not all, hormonal factors, the role(s) of many hormones in the CNS remain unexplored. Characterizing the influence of hormonal homeostasis during aging may open up new roads for therapeutic intervention to ameliorate age- and disease-related cognitive impairments, and reverse/prevents age-related memory decline.
While it is evident that hormonal factors are essential to mediate communication between our peripheral organs and the central nervous system, we have an imcomplete understanding of the roles played by hormonal factors in controling brain metabolic and cognitive functions (in healthy and aging population).
The overall research goals of my laboratory are:
We are currently using an interdisciplinary approach that combines mouse genetics, cellular and molecular methodologies, local brain stereotactic injections, lentiviral-based gene downregulation, primary neuronal cells-based assays, and behavioral/metabolic analyses, to answer these questions. For the translational aspects of my projects, we have multiple collaborations with clinicians at Paris Descartes-Sorbone Cité campus.