Speakers > DIEUDONNE Stéphane

Stéphane DIEUDONNE (DR INSERM)

Team Inhibitory Transmission

Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure (IBENS)

ENS CNRS UMR8197 INSERM U1024, Paris, France

Stéphane Dieudonné is a cellular and systems neurobiologist with expertise in both electrophysiology and imaging of neuronal activity. Since 2005, he has been heading a research team at the Biology Institute of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (IBENS), investigating the function of inhibitory neurons in neuronal homeostasis and computation. He is involved in several international training courses in optics for the neurosciences and acts as scientific director of the imaging facility at IBENS.

Brain function critically depends on the interplay between excitatory and inhibitory transmission. Compromised excitation/inhibition balance leads to pathological states, such as epilepsy and hyperekplexia, or to modified brain states, as illustrated by the action of benzodiazepines and general anesthetics. Our aim is to understand the contribution of inhibitory neurons to the stability of brain function through the dissection of elementary processes such as activity-dependent neurotransmitter release, single neuron computation, oscillatory synchronization of neuronal populations, gain control in brain microcircuits and sensory-motor gating. To this end, we apply a multi-level approach ranging from the molecular dissection of inhibitory vesicle filling, to the behavioral assessment of in-vivo optogenetic stimulations of specific inhibitory neurons.