Jérôme Déjardin

2017 Laureate

Host Institution

Group leader IGH: Biologie des sequences repetees (Since 2009). DR1 INSERM (Since 2020)
Head of the IGH ‘Genome Dynamics’ Department (Since 2021)

Current position

INSERM

The Déjardin lab

jerome.dejardin@igh.cnrs.fr

DNA is stained in blue, telomeres replicated by the leading strand machinery are stained in red while telomeres replicated by the lagging strand machinery are stained in green. The arrow points to a telomere sister exchange, where leading and lagging strand telomeres have exchanged sequences by recombination. This phenomenon is active and underlies the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres pathway.

Chromosome Orientation FISH on metaphase spread of embryonic stem cells chromosomes

Biology of repetitive sequences

Repeated DNA accounts for the majority of mammalian genomes and usually assembles into a condensed structure termed heterochromatin. Heterochromatin contains only few cellular genes and is commonly perceived as refractory to most DNA transactions. Repetitiveness makes this fraction of the genome particularly difficult to study for geneticists because it is almost impossible to remove repeats and analyse phenotypical consequences. Moreover, repeats are difficult to map in the genome. My lab is focused on understanding the contributions of heterochromatin factors and DNA repeats to genome stability, gene expression and genome evolution.

Training

• 2004 PhD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France, Giacomo Cavalli's lab

• 2004-2009 Postdoctoral fellow, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA, Bob Kingston’s lab.

• 2009-2015 Appointed Junior Group Leader (INSERM CR1, permanent position) Research associate (CNRS CR, permanent position), IGH Montpellier, France.

• 2015-present Appointed Senior Group Leader (INSERM, DR2 permanent position), IGH Montpellier, France.

Awards

• Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), 2017

• Olga Sain award from La Ligue contre le Cancer comite de Paris, 2011

• RISE1 award from the Epigenesys Network of Excellence, 2011

• Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), 2010

• Laureate of an EMBO Long Term Fellowship 2005