Luc VallièresPh.D.

Dr. Luc Vallières is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Laval University and a neuroimmunology researcher in the Neuroscience Unit at the CHU de Québec.

He began his career in 2002 after a postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute in California in the field of postnatal neurogenesis (1998-2001). This training was preceded by a doctorate in physiology at Laval University (1993-1998) and a bachelor’s degree in biology at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (1990-1993).

He is studying two diseases that afflict the central nervous system: multiple sclerosis and brain cancer. His research program aims to better understand how immune cells are regulated in these diseases in the hope of finding a way to neutralize or stimulate them for therapeutic purposes. This program is well funded by the CIHR, NSERC and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

He has made a significant contribution to the field of neuroimmunology by discovering a population of immune cells that constantly patrols the blood vessels of the nervous system and by elucidating mechanisms that govern their recruitment and functions under inflammatory conditions.

His research led to an international patent claiming the first ever drug that would specifically calm the neutrophil, an immune cell normally beneficial, but that can be involved in many inflammatory diseases.

His technical background includes single cell-RNA sequencing, STED super-resolution microscopy, flow cytometry, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and RNA interference, as well as bone marrow transplantation. Strong of this expertise, he directs the super-resolution microscopy and irradiation platforms at the CHU de Québec.

He is responsible of two courses, namely Principles of Neuroimmunology (MMO-7010) and Current Techniques in Molecular Medicine (MMO-7019).

Among his external activities, he is chairing the organizing committee of the 16th Congress of the International Society of Neuroimmunology, which will take place in Quebec City in August 2022. He is associate editor of the journal Mediators of Inflammation. He also serves on neuroscience committees at the CIHR.