David GosselinPh.D.

I completed my doctorate in physiology-endocrinology at Laval University in May 2012. My studies, conducted under the supervision of Dr. Serge Rivest, focused on understanding the role of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta in regulating neuronal activity in various brain-related pathologies. I then completed, from July 2012 to March 2017, a postdoctoral fellowship in epigenomics under the direction of Dr. Christopher Glass at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). My studies helped me gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate transcription in human and murine microglia (see Gosselin et al., Cell, 2014, Gosselin et al., Science, 2017). Finally, since April 2017, I am assistant professor under grant at Laval University. My laboratory, located at the CHU of Quebec-Laval University Research Centre, aims to better understand the role of microglia in brain physiology.

Understanding the microglial cell

 Microglia are the immune cells of the brain. More and more evidence suggests that they are actually involved in various physiological aspects of brain tissue, including its development, or diseases such as Alzheimer’s and autism spectrum deficits. On the other hand, the way microglia activity is regulated at the molecular level remains poorly known as of today.

To address this problem, we are using state-of-the-art next-generation sequencing techniques to better understand how microglia integrate the various signals that regulate it at the genome level, and how this integration modulates gene expression and cellular functions in microglia. Our studies are conducted in mice and we improve our sequencing technologies using microscopy and animal behavior tests. Our multidisciplinary research program, unique in Canada, allows us to define with unmatched precision how microglia contribute to brain function.