Speakers

Déborah Bourc’his is leading the Epigenetic Decisions and Reproduction Group since 2009, in the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Institut Curie, Paris, France. Throughout her career, she has been working on the role of DNA methylation in mammalian development. During her PhD, she characterized the molecular and genetic defect of a human syndrome linked to constitutive DNA methylation deficiency. As a post-doctoral fellow in Columbia University, she identified the DNMT3L co-factor as an obligate stimulator of DNA methylation acquisition during gametogenesis. Her current research explores three major themes: the mechanistics of de novo DNA methylation; DNA methylation and transposon control; DNA methylation and genomic imprinting. She is the recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant, an elected EMBO member and received the Jayle Prize from the French Academy of Sciences.