Dr. Hébert was born in Montréal in 1974. He studied biotechnology, and obtained his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Laval University in 2003. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in human genetics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. In 2009, he was recruited as Assistant Professor at Laval University. Dr. Hébert is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Laval University. He is also a researcher (group leader) in the Neuroscience Unit of the Research Center of the CHU de Québec – Laval University.
Dr. Hébert’s work focuses on the biological and molecular mechanisms that cause neuronal death and dementia. Specifically, his research team studies the role of micro-RNAs in the development, diagnosis, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and Huntington’s disease. Micro-RNAs are small molecules in the body that are similar to DNA and regulate the level of proteins. Dr. Hébert’s pioneering research has shown that many micro-RNAs are deregulated in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and other types of dementia. Curiously, a number of these molecules can reproduce the pathological and clinical symptoms of dementia in biological models on their own, such as cultured neurons and mice. Dr. Hébert also uses the postmortem human brain as an indispensable tool for his research.
Recently, his work on a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease was presented by Le Soleil, the FM93 radio station, and The Alzheimer’s Society of Canada’s Website.
Dr. Hébert has received various awards, including the Alzheimer’s Society of Saskatchewan’s Young Investigator Grant (2010) and the FRQS Junior Research Scholar Career Award (2011, 2014). He has been a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada (2011). In addition to his commitment to teaching, he regularly participates in various evaluation committees and conferences. Finally, he helps organize events and promote basic Canadian research on Alzheimer’s disease, and related dementias.
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Repeated cold exposures protect a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease against cold-induced tau phosphorylation
Journal ArticleMol Metab, 22 , 2019.
Peripheral adaptive immunity of the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease
Journal ArticleJ Neuroinflammation, 16 (1), 2019.
Copy Number Variants in miR-138 as a Potential Risk Factor for Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease
Journal ArticleJ Alzheimers Dis, 68 (3), 2019.
Stem Cell-Derived Neurons as Cellular Models of Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease
Journal ArticleJ Alzheimers Dis, 67 (3), 2019.
Huntingtin Aggregation Impairs Autophagy, Leading to Argonaute-2 Accumulation and Global MicroRNA Dysregulation
Journal ArticleCell Rep, 24 (6), 2018.
Prenatal Immune Challenge in Mice Leads to Partly Sex-Dependent Behavioral, Microglial, and Molecular Abnormalities Associated with Schizophrenia
Journal ArticleFront Mol Neurosci, 11 , 2018.
A Novel MicroRNA-124/PTPN1 Signal Pathway Mediates Synaptic and Memory Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease
Journal ArticleBiol Psychiatry, 83 (5), 2018.
Co-occurrence of mixed proteinopathies in late-stage Huntington's disease
Journal ArticleActa Neuropathol, 135 (2), 2018.
Targeting the HDAC2/HNF-4A/miR-101b/AMPK Pathway Rescues Tauopathy and Dendritic Abnormalities in Alzheimer's Disease
Journal ArticleMol Ther, 25 (3), 2017.
MicroRNAs underlying memory deficits in neurodegenerative disorders
Journal ArticleProg Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 73 , 2017.
Active projects
- Importance of non-canonical microRNAs in the mammalian brain, from 2020-04-01 to 2025-03-31
- Preclinical safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and efficiency of microRNA oligonucleotides for Alzheimer's disease, from 2020-03-01 to 2025-03-31
- Preclinical safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and efficiency of microRNA oligonucleotides for Alzheimer's disease, from 2022-04-01 to 2027-03-31
Recently finished projects
- Étude in vivo des microARNs dans les maladies neurodégénératives, from 2019-07-01 to 2022-06-30
- microRNA-132: from underlying mechanism of neurodegeneration to therapeutic application in Huntington’s disease, from 2017-04-01 to 2022-03-31