Fortin Gilles

Biography

Gilles Fortin received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris-6, France. He held a postdoctoral position at the MRC Center for Developmental Neurobiology at Guy’s Hospital in the laboratory of Professor Andrew Lumsden. His work on the chick embryo revealed a striking relationship between early rhombomeric pattern and the ontogeny of basal rhythmogenic circuitry in the brainstem, extending the significance of hindbrain segmentation beyond modular anatomical organization to the level of network assembly and function. He has been working since at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique where he is leading the group Hindbrain Integrative Neurobiology at the Institut de Neurobiologie Alfred Fessard in Gif-sur-Yvette. His present work focuses on the biological bases of the breathing behaviour.  His group investigates in the mouse, using developmental genetics tools, electrophysiology and calcium imaging, the ontogeny of distinct vital neural oscillator networks that couple at embryonic stages to establish the respiratory rhythm generator.  

Research Interest

Neurology