Scientific Board

Nicolas WANAVERBECQ (Associate Professor, MCU)

Team SpiCCI, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), AMU & CNRS UMR 7289, Campus Timone, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France

Nicolas Wanaverbecq obtained his PhD in Neuroscience and Pharmacology at University College London (UCL, 2001) and trained during his postdoctoral activities in electrophysiology and neurophysiology in the laboratories of Prof DA Brown (Dept. of Pharmacology), Prof DM Kullmann (Institute of Neurology, London) and Prof A Lüthi, (Biozentrum, Basel). During these years, his main research topics were calcium homeostasis in neurons, regulation of ionic channels activity and of synaptic transmission by metabotropic receptors. In 2007, he joined Aix Marseille University where he was appointed Associate Professor in 2017. In 2018, he joined the INT to start the ‘Spinal Cord and CSF Interface (SpiCCI)’ research group to study the properties and function of a unique neuronal population present around the central canal of the spinal cord: the CSF contacting neurons (CSF-cNs). His team develops electrophysiological recording techniques combined to imaging approaches as well as advanced histology and molecular biology using transgenic mouse models to selectively target and manipulate CSF-cNs (cytosolic fluorescent markers, GCaMP6 and Channelrhodopsin model, targeted viral infection strategies).

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Franck DEBARBIEUX (Assistant Professor, MCU)

Team ImaPath, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), AMU & CNRS UMR 7289, Campus Timone, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France

Franck Debarbieux is the leader of the IMAPATH team at the Institute for Neuroscience Timone (AMU-CNRS, France). Initially graduated as an engineer in physics and chemistry from E.S.P.C.I. (Paris-Tech Grande Ecole, 1997), he obtained a PhD in Neuroscience from Paris 6 University (2002) and was hired as a Research Scientist at RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan. In 2005 he became Assitant Professor at Aix Marseille University  and devoted himself to preclinical brain imaging. His team takes advantage of multicolor 2P and CARS  microscopies to study the dynamic neuroinflammatory processes at play in the pathological central nervous system as well as their impact on neuronal functions. The methodological and fundamental efforts of the team are finally transferred to applicative research in the context of the European FET project  (Neurofibres) to develop neuroregenerative prosthetic implants.

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Ivo VANZETTA (Researcher, CR CNRS)

Team NeOpTo, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), AMU & CNRS UMR 7289, Campus Timone, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France

Ivo Vanzetta is a CNRS Researcher in the NeOpTo Team at at the Institute for Neuroscience Timone (AMU-CNRS, France).