[BIC-announce] FW: Special Lecture - Dr. Francois Gros-Louis

[Jennifer Chew, Ms.]

PLEASE DISCARD IF THIS IS A DUPLICATE.  THANK YOU.  JENNIFER  


Jennifer Chew
McConnell Brain Imaging Centre
MNI - WB317
3801 University Street
Montreal, Qc  H3A 2B4
Telephone:  514-398-8554
Fax:  514-398-2975


-----Original Message-----
From: MNISTAFF - Montreal Neurological Institute Staff [mailto:MNISTAFF at LISTS.MCGILL.CA] On Behalf Of Enza Ferracane, Ms.
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 11:41 AM
To: MNISTAFF at LISTS.MCGILL.CA
Subject: Special Lecture - Dr. Francois Gros-Louis

Dr. Francois Gros-Louis is a candidate for the Motor Neuron Scientist position at the MNI, and he will be presenting his work on Wednesday, May 5th at 4 PM in the de Grandpre Lecture theatre.
 
Francois is currently a postdoctoral fellow with Jean-Pierre Julien at the University of  Laval in Quebec City.  Francois did his MSc degree with Jean-Claude Forest  at Laval and his PhD with Guy Rouleau here at McGill where he discovered genetic variants in several genes associated with ALS (F. Gros-Louis et al. A frameshift deletion in peripherin gene associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Biol Chem. Oct 29;279(44):45951-6
(2004)).   In addition, he identified the gene responsible for a form of
recessive ataxia, another neurodegenerative disease known as ataxia of
Beauce.   (Gros-Louis F, Dupré N, Dion P, Fox MA, Laurent S, Verreault S,
Sanes JR, Bouchard JP, Rouleau GA. Mutations in Syne1 lead to a novel form of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia. Nature Genetics 2007 Jan;39(1):80-5.).  As a grad student, he also pioneered the use of the zebrafish model for understanding molecular pathologies for ALS and other degenerative disorders. (Gros-Louis F, Kriz J, Kabashi E, McDearmid J, Millecamps S, Urushitani M, Lin L, Dion P, Zhu Q, Drapeau P, Rouleau GA & Julien JP. Als2 mRNA splicing variants detected in KO mice rescue severe motor dysfunction phenotype in Als2 knock-down zebrafish. Hum Mol Genet 2008 Sep 1;17(17):2691-702).
 
He is currently working with Jean-Pierre on the development of a new therapeutic approach based on passive immunization in the treatment of ALS.
In this work, he has demonstrated that the administration of specific antibodies could delay the first symptoms of the disease and also delay its progression, thus opening a new therapeutic avenue for treating this yet incurable disease.