Pathophysiology and therapeutics of cartilage tissue (CARPATH)

The CARPATH team's activities focus on studying the players and mechanisms behind cartilage damage, aiming to gain a better physiopathological understanding of a wide range of pathologies, from rare diseases with a genetic predisposition, such as skeletal dysplasia, to prevalent chronic and disabling joint diseases like osteoarthritis. The goal is to identify targets and potential therapeutic solutions.

The team's project is based around three areas, with objectives to study the respective contributions of anti-mineralizing factors (inorganic pyrophosphate or 

PPi, Matrix Gla Protein or MGP), metabolic factors (hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia), and lipid nanoparticles to phenotypic changes in chondrocytes in different cartilage tissues and under various pathophysiological conditions, in order to contribute to the development of curative treatments for cartilage pathologies.

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Clinical Research in Neuroscience (ERCN)

The ERCN team consists primarily of clinician-researchers (7 out of 10 members) and is closely integrated with the clinical activities of the neurology department at Nancy CHRU. Its objective is to understand the healthy and pathological brain mechanisms involved in human cognition (including visual perception, memory, learning, emotions, and attention). This understanding is primarily based on multi-modal and multi-scale studies involving clinical populations, particularly drug-resistant epileptic patients.

Specific studies within the team focus on the visual recognition of faces and letters/words (reading), which are predominantly associated with the right and left cerebral hemispheres, respectively. The team also investigates how these recognition processes are modulated by attention, using electrophysiological, metabolic, and behavioral approaches. Cognitive assessment extends to patients during pre- and post-surgical stages of neuropsychology, utilizing electrophysiological biomarkers. Additionally, the team studies the genesis of epileptic seizures in children and psychogenic seizures.

The team also investigates other neurological disorders that impact recognition functions, such as Alzheimer's disease.

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Biologie structurale et synthétique, enzymologie et applications des mégaenzymes (S2BEAM)

The main objective of the S2BEAM team is to establish detailed structure-function relationships for enzymes and related proteins of biomedical and/or biotechnological interest, with the aim not only of understanding fundamental biological processes but also of manipulating enzymatic activity for specific purposes. Research is carried out in the field of megaenzymes (polyketide synthases (PKS), non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, and their hybrids) involved in the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites in bacteria and fungi. The research draws on a range of skills in molecular enzymology, biophysical and structural biology techniques, and synthetic biology.

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