Steve BilodeauPh.D.

Dr. Steve Bilodeau is an associate professor at Laval University (Department of Molecular Biology, Medical Biochemistry and Pathology, School of Medicine) and has been a principal investigator for the oncology axis of the Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-Laval University, since 2012. In addition to being finalist for the Maud-Menten New Principal Investigator prize, Dr. Bilodeau holds the Canada Research Chair in transcriptional genomics.

Research interests

Since his training at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 2007-2012), Dr. Bilodeau has studied the molecular mechanisms controlling gene expression during normal and disease development. Indeed, despite common genetic material, each cell has a unique gene expression program that is specific to its function. An imbalance in this program changes the daily operations of the cell; instructing a new role in the process. Therapeutic approaches currently focus on the destruction of defective cells or on treating symptoms associated with the disease. The premise of Dr. Bilodeau’s lab is that, if the gene expression program can be controlled, all cells, healthy or diseased, can be controlled as well.

Research program

Dr. Bilodeau’s research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). His work aims to integrate the multiple layers of information from the nuclear environment (chromosome structure, chromatin, regulators, etc.) in order to determine which genes are prioritized by a given cell during a transcriptional response triggered by an environmental change. More specifically, Dr. Bilodeau’s team seeks to understand the biological role of the three-dimensional organization of the genome in the communication between genes. The findings of Dr. Bilodeau’s team provide the basic information needed to understand the role of noncoding regulatory regions, which frequently harbor genetic events associated with multiple diseases, in maintaining the transcriptional program. This problem affects both developmental syndromes and cancers.