François Berthod

Dr. François Berthod is a full professor in the Department of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval and a regular researcher at LOEX, Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus, CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research Center.

The main objective of his research program is to use tissue-engineered organ reconstruction techniques to model in vitro different diseases that can be induced or modulated by the nervous system, to better understand their pathological processes and find new therapeutic approaches. In addition, one of his projects aims to repair peripheral nerve damage through the development of a tissue-engineered nerve tube made from the patient’s own cells.

Modelling Diseases In Vitro Using Tissue Engineering
Many human diseases have causes and pathological mechanisms that are still poorly understood, making it difficult to discover new drugs for better treatment. Using cells from patients, it is possible to reconstruct organs affected by these diseases and recapitulate their pathological hallmarks in vitro to better understand their mechanisms and use these models to test the efficacy of new drugs.

In the case of psoriasis modeling, Dr. Berthod’s team hypothesized that skin innervation could play a major role in plaque formation and is developing, in collaboration with Dr. Roxane Pouliot, a model of innervated and immunocompetent psoriatic skin to study this disease. The aim of the project is to treat these lesions with neuropeptide antagonist molecules released by sensory nerves, which have the advantage of not inducing deleterious side effects.

To model diabetic ulcers, his team developed tissue-engineered skin with cells extracted from the skin of diabetic patients in which a wound was reproduced. The objective of the project, in collaboration with Dr. Patrick Rochette’s team, is to show that diabetic cells have highly altered mitochondria and that they can be regenerated by the transfer of healthy exogenous mitochondria, to greatly improve the healing potential of diabetic wounds.

Dr. Berthod’s team also aims to model rosacea in vitro by developing a model of innervated reconstructed skin subjected to an inflammatory environment mimicking the disease. The objective of the project is to better establish its pathological mechanism and to highlight new therapeutic avenues focused on the inhibition of sensory innervation.

Repairing Peripheral Nerves Using Tissue Engineering
Peripheral nerve lesions result in paralysis of the affected limb, and current surgical options to repair large deficits are ineffective. Dr. Berthod, in collaboration with Dr. Hélène Khuong, a neurosurgeon, has developed a project to produce a nerve tube made up of the patient’s own cells, tailor-made to bridge the deficit. The production of an autologous living tube is a major innovation that should greatly stimulate axonal migration in the graft and allow the regeneration of the injured nerve and motor and sensory recovery of the affected limb.