Yves TremblayPh.D.

Yves Tremblay is a full professor at Laval University in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproduction, and a senior scientist at the CHU de Québec-Laval University Research Center. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1979 and his PhD in physiology and molecular endocrinology in 1984 from Laval University’s School of Medicine. From 1985-1990, he pursued three post- doctoral training programs at the Louis-Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France on steroid receptor molecular biology, at the University of Montreal on molecular biology of the endocrine systems, and at the University of California in San Francisco in the Department of Pediatrics, on molecular biology of human steroidogenic enzymes. He is the co-founder of the eBook strategic initiative that uses the Web-based discussion forum to approach the delicate question of being born too soon. Between 2005 and 2011, he was member of the Institute Advisory Board of the Institute of Gender and Health from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Between 2011 and 2015, he was the Director for the Respiratory Health Network from the Fonds de Recherche Québec en Santé. Meanwhile, he was also a member, and then President of the Board of Directors of the Quebec Lung Association. Since August 2015, he has been the President of the International and Interdisciplinary Association on the Pharmaceutical Life Cycle. He has also served over the last 20 years on several provincial, national, and international committees.

Research Interest

For over 25 years, the development of Dr. Tremblay’s research expertise has been directly related to fetal development and gene expression of the steroidogenesis-specific enzymes involved in the metabolism of steroid hormones in gonads, adrenals, and peripheral tissues, including both placenta and fetal lungs. Androgens synthesized by the fetal lungs, estradiol synthesized by the placenta, and regulation of the fetal lungs by glucocorticoids do control key events in fetal development by means of their cell-type specific expression, temporal regulation, and regionalization in their presence and action; in all cases, a disruption in the metabolism and problems associated with the action of androgens and estrogens during pregnancy and a deregulation of glucocorticoid in the fetal lungs is directly related to developmental syndrome and pathologies, namely respiratory distress syndrome and bronchopulmonary dysplasia disease. This research presents specific aspects that hold potential for clinical applications: studying the metabolism and regulation of steroid hormones by the lungs is applicable to many sectors of physiology, including modelization, while their action on fetal development, and, more specifically, lung maturation and development, has clinical potential in human health. More recently, our research on lung development in early life has indicated a potential interest for emphysema, a disease for which we have no curative treatment.