Laurent Nguyen

Laurent Nguyen is Senior Research Associate of the FRS-FNRS. After completing a PhD dissertation in developmental neurobiology under the direction of Prof. Gustave Moonen (1999-2003) at the ULiège, Laurent Nguyen received an EMBO long term fellowship and completed a postdoctoral stage in the laboratory of Dr. François Guillemot at the National Institute for Medical Research in London (2003-2006). He also traveled to Canada to work in the laboratory of Dr. Carol Schuurmans of the University of Calgary in order to learn the technique of electroporation in utero. Laurent Nguyen currently supervises a team of researchers working in the laboratory of GIGA-Neuroscience at the ULg. With his group, he is studying cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the development of the cerebral cortex. His research has been rewarded with several scientific prizes (Welbio, Clerdent prize,..). The cerebral cortex is an evolutionary advanced brain structure made of neuronal layers tangentially organized into areas that serve specialized functions. Cortical layering arises inside-out as progenitors give birth to successive waves of pyramidal projection neurons in the dorsal telencephalon and, GABAergic interneurons in the ventral forebrain. More generally, the development of the cortex implies a continuous rearrangement of a primordial structure that progresses through successive steps including, proliferation, specification, migration, and neuronal differentiation. Disruption in any of these aforementioned events often leads to malformations of cortical development (MCDs). MCDs comprise a heterogeneous group of either focal or diffuse anatomical brain abnormalities, and is associated with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations, developmental delay or intellectual disabilities. Hence, the work of the Nguyen lab aims to better understand the molecular and cellular regulation of cerebral cortex development, and the neuropathological mechanisms underlying MCDs. Selected publications Silva, C.G., Peyre, E., Adhikari, M. H., Tielens, S., Tanco, S., Van Damme, P., Magno, L., Krusy, N., Agirman, G., Magiera, M. M., Kessaris, N., Malgrange, B., Andrieux, A., Janke, C., and Nguyen, L.: Cell-intrinsic control of interneuron migration drives cortical morphogenesis. Cell (2018), 172(5): 1063-78 (IF=30,4) Gladwyn-Ng I, Cordón-Barris L, Alfano C, Creppe C, Couderc T, Morelli G, Thelen N, America M, Bessières B, Encha-Razavi F, Bonnière M, Suzuki IK, Flamand M, Vanderhaeghen P, Thiry M, Lecuit M, and Nguyen, L . : Stress-induced unfolded protein response contributes to Zika virus-associated microcephaly. Nat Neurosci (2018), 21(1):63-71 (IF=17.8) Tielens, S.*, Huysseune, S.*, Godin, J.D., Chariot, A., Malgrange, B., and Nguyen, L . : Elongator controls cortical migration by regulating actomyosin dynamics. Cell Research (2016), in press (IF=15.6) Laguesse, S., Creppe, C., Nedialkova, D., Prévot, P.-P., Borgs, L., Huyseune, S., Franco, B., Duysens, G., Krusy, N., Lee, G., Thelen, N., Thiry, M., Close, P., Chariot, A., Malgrange, B., Leidel, S., Godin, J., and Nguyen, L. : A dynamic unfolded protein response contributes to the control of cortical neurogenesis Dev Cell (2015), 35(5): 553-567 (IF=9.7) Volvert, M.-L., Prévot, P.-P., Close, P., Laguesse,S., Pirotte, S., Hemphill, J., Rogister, F., Kruzy, N., Sacheli, R., Moonen, R., Deiters, A., Merkenschlager, M., Chariot, A., Malgrange, B., Godin, J., and Nguyen, L. : MicroRNA Targeting of CoREST Controls Polarization of Migrating Cortical Neurons, Cell Rep (2014), 7(4): 1168-83 (IF=8.4) Avila, A., Vidal, P.M., Dear, T.N., Harvey, J.H.., Rigo, J.-M., and Nguyen, L. : Glycine receptor α2 subunit activation promotes cortical interneurons migration. Cell Rep (2013), 21(11): 1696-1708 (IF=7.2) Godin, J., Thomas, N., Laguesse, S., Malinouskaya, L., Close, P., Malaise, P., Purnelle, A., Raineteau, O., Campbell, K., Fero, M., Moonen, G., Malgrange, B., Chariot, A., Metin, C, Besson, A., and Nguyen, L.: p27Kip1 is a microtubule-associated protein that promotes microtubule polymerisation during neuron migration. Dev Cell (2012), 23 (4): 729-44 (IF=12.9) Creppe, C., Malinouskaya, L., Volvert, M.-L., Gillard, M., Close, P., Malaise, O., Laguesse, S., Cornez, I., Rahmouni, S., Ormenese, S., Belachew, S., Malgrange, B., Chapelle, J.-P., Siebenlist, U., Moonen, G., Chariot, A. and Nguyen, L. : Elongator Controls the Migration and Differentiation of Cortical Neurons through Acetylation of Alpha Tubulin. Cell (2009), 132: 551-564 (IF=31.2)