Christophe Leterrier, team leader (CR CNRS, HDR)
Christophe was trained as an engineer in physics and chemistry, and later received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. He came to Marseille as a post-doc in 2006 and became a tenured CNRS researcher in 2011. He’s leading the NeuroCyto team since 2017, using advanced microscopy to decipher the structure and functions of the neuronal cytoskeleton. You can check Christophe’s Google Scholar page here and NCBI bibliography here, and find him on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Mastodon.
Marie-Jeanne Papandréou, associate professor (MCU AMU, HDR)
Marie-Jeanne is an Associate Professor at Aix-Marseille University since 1991. She is teaching classes in Biochemistry and Immunology at the Marseille Saint-Charles Faculty, and at the ESIL engineering school. She also teaches in the Immunology and Neurosciences Masters. After studying the role of glycans in the HIV envelope functions (1994-2009) and characterizing new proteins at the axon initial segment (2010-2016), she brings her knowledge of cell biology and biochemistry to the NeuroCyto team projects.
Nicolas Jullien, research engineer (IR CNRS)
Nicolas is a CNRS research engineer who joined us in June 2021. Gifted molecular biologist, he’s the NeuroCyto secret weapon for taking advantage of the newest probes and genetic manipulations strategies.
Fanny Boroni-Rueda, technician (AMU)
Fanny is an Aix-Marseille University technician that is with us since September 2017. Fanny provides helps all NeuroCyto team members, and has a steady hand in the preparation, organization and teaching of neuronal cultures.
Florence Pelletier, technician (AMU)
Florence is an Aix-Marseille University technician who joined the team in May 2021. Part lab manager, part sample prep wizardess, aways with a sharp eye and attention to detail.
Karoline Friedl, PhD student
After a Master’s at University of Frankfurt, Karoline wanted to continue working on super-resolution microscopy. She started in the lab in March 2019 as part of our partnership with the Abbelight startup company, and is now implementing and testing their products on our applications as a CIFRE PhD student.
Florian Wernert, PhD student
An IT engineer by training, Florian had a career in software engineering and IT security before diving into neuroscience. He started his PhD in October 2019 to understand the molecular architecture of axonal actin using cutting-edge microscopy and image processing.
Sofia Tumminia, PhD student
Sofia came from Italy to study biology in Marseille, and is a PhD student in the team since October 2021, thanks to FRM funding. She will work on resolving the architecture and role of actin in synapses thanks to new synapse induction strategies.
Ciarán Butler-Hallisey, PhD student
Ciarán is from Ireland, and did his Master’s in Turku, Finland before working as a research engineer on the Turku CIC imaging facility for a couple of years. He started his PhD in the team in December 2021 after obtaining funding from the NeuroSchool PhD program.
Alumni
October 2018 – July 2022: Dominic Bingham, PhD student (NeuroSchool). After a Master’s at University of Sheffield, Dominic has joined the lab in October 2018 as our first PhD student. He started the work on deciphering the organization and role of actin along axons and at synapses (Bingham et al., bioRxiv 2022) and started working at local biotech NeuroSys after defending his PhD in July 2022.
- October 2017- September 2019: Angélique Jimenez, assistant engineer (ATIP). Now working at the INP Stem Cell NeuroTimone (SCeNT) facility and actively collaborating with the team!
- January 2017 – September 2020: Ghislaine Caillol, technician (AMU). A founding member of the NeuroCyto Lab, Ghislaine retired in September 2020 and we miss her!
Students
We’re always happy to hire students and trainees at all levels – if you’re interested in an internship or want to discuss possibilities of a PhD in our lab, please contact us.
- July-October 2022: Eva Schentarra, Master Student from the University of Heidelberg.
- February-March 2022: Kevin Guenard, Master 1 Cergy-Paris Université.
- May-July 2021: Cécile Marty, engineer student from Polytech Marseille.
- January-July 2021: Sofia Tumminia, Master 2 Neuro AmU (Master Neurosciences, Marseille).
- July 2018-January 2019: Florian Wernert, Master 2 Neuro AmU (Master Neurosciences, Marseille).
- April-May 2018, September 2018-January 2019: Solène Gibaud, Master 1 and Master 2 Neuro AmU (Master Neurosciences, Marseille).
- Feb 2018-July 2018: Nikki Van Bommel, Master Student from University of Amsterdam (UvA), A*MIDEX Master fellowship.
- Dec 2017-March 2018: Meriem Sid, Master 2 Neuro AMU (Master Neurosciences, Marseille).
- Feb-August 2017: Sofia Yousfi, Master 2 ImaCell (Master in Cell imaging, Rouen).
- Feb-June 2017: Julie Da Costa, Bachelor’s degree BAE (license professionnelle Biologie Analytique et Expérimentale, Montpellier).
- March-June 2017: Angélique Jimenez, Master 2 Neuro AMU (Master Neurosciences, Marseille).