Julie FradettePh.D.

Pr. Fradette has been a regular researcher at the CRCHU de Québec-Laval University since 2005, and a full professor of the Department of Surgery of the Laval University School of Medicine. After a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry (1991-1994, U Laval) and a PhD in cellular and molecular biology focused on the study of skin epithelial stem cells (1994-1999, U Laval, with L. Germain, LOEX), she acquired a specialization in gene therapy during her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh (1999-2004, with J. Glorioso III, U Pittsburgh, PA, USA). Her current research program is based on the use of human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells in regenerative medicine. Since September of 2015, she has been the director of the ThéCell network, the province of Quebec network for cell and tissue therapy supported by the FRQS. 

Development of human reconstructed tissues as 3D discovery models and for clinical applications

Pr. Fradette’s current research program is based on the use of a new and abundant source of multipotential cells: the adipose-derived stromal/stem cells (ASCs). Using tissue-engineering techniques, her team uses ASCs to recreate human tissue which is needed in reconstructive surgery, such as skin, adipose, and bone-like tissue. For example, human adipose substitutes recreating the 3D tissular context in vitro are useful discovery tools for pharmaco-toxicological studies on the metabolic regulation of human adipocytes. Moreover, adipose tissues are reconstructed with the important goal of being used in the clinic as soft-tissue fillers to repair tissue loss, in cases of deep burns or tumor removal (including mastectomy). The resulting tissues are all human, and devoid of exogenous biomaterials. 

Her research interests include a better understanding of the cellular interactions between adipocytes and endothelial cells, the effects of inflammatory conditions on blood capillaries and adipocyte metabolism, the impact of human ECM components on the adipogenic differentiation of ASCs, and how MMPs can influence tissue remodeling, under normal and inflammatory conditions. Current studies performed in her laboratory aim at promoting the vascularisation of thick reconstructed tissues produced under xenogenic-free culture conditions for clinical applications. Ongoing preclinical studies assess the efficacy of tissue-engineered biological dressings to accelerate the healing of skin wounds.

In collaboration with D.r M. Fortin and Dr. FA. Auger, her team also produces bone-like substitutes from ASCs.