Cécile Charrier
Development and plasticity of synapses
Job opening: ERC-funded postdoctoral position, starting fall 2021 or early 2022.
Synapses are multimolecular nanomachines that ensure the proper connectivity of neuronal circuits, integrate diverse inputs into biochemical reactions and allow adaptive responses to the environment. Small changes in the molecular organization of synapses can lead to profound modifications of behavioral and cognitive abilities, as frequently observed in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Small changes also appeared during human evolution. Although poorly characterized, they underlie the distinctive developmental and physiological properties of human synapses and are at the core of what makes us humans.
We are investigating the role of molecular pathways linked to human evolution in the development and plasticity of synaptic connections in the neocortex. Our goal is to elucidate fundamental principles that are common to all mammals, and uncover regulations that are specific to humans. We employ a multidisciplinary approach in mouse and human models based on sparse in vivo manipulations in intact cortical circuits, proteomics, electrophysiology, as well as confocal, super-resolutive, and correlative microscopy.
Selected publications
Wennagel D, Charrier C. Trans-synaptic functions of non-canonical ionotropic glutamate receptors in circuit wiring and plasticity (2025) Curr Opin Neurobiol. 93:103053. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2025.103053.
Christopoulou E and Charrier C. Molecular mechanisms of the specialization of human synapses in the neocortex (2024). Curr Opin Genet Dev. 89:102258. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2024.102258.
Assendorp N, Fossati M, Libé-Philippot B, Christopoulou E, Depp M, Rapone R, Dingli F, Loew D, Vanderhaeghen P, Charrier C. CTNND2 moderates the pace of synaptic maturation and links human evolution to synaptic neoteny (2024) Cell Reports. 43(10):114797. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114797.
Libé-Philippot B, Iwata R, Recupero AJ, Wierda K, Bernal Garcia S, Hammond L, van Benthem A, Limame R, Ditkowska M, Beckers S, Gaspariunaite V, Peze-Heidsieck E, Remans D, Charrier C, Theys T, Polleux F, Vanderhaeghen P. Synaptic neoteny of human cortical neurons requires species-specific balancing of SRGAP2-SYNGAP1 cross-inhibition (2025) Neuron. 112(21):3602-3617.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.08.021.
Piot L, Heroven C, Bossi S, Zamith J, Malinauskas T, Johnson C, Wennagel D, Stroebel D, Charrier C, Aricescu AR, Mony L, Paoletti P. GluD1 binds GABA and controls inhibitory plasticity (2023) Science 2023 Dec 22;382(6677):1389-1394. doi: 10.1126/science.adf3406.
Gemin O, Serna P, Zamith J, Assendorp N, Fossati M, Rostaing P, Triller A and Charrier C, Unique properties of dually innervated dendritic spines in pyramidal neurons of the somatosensory cortex uncovered by 3D correlative light and electron microscopy (2021) Plos Biology, 19(8): e3001375.
Fossati M, Charrier C, Trans-synaptic interactions of ionotropic glutamate receptors (2020) Curr Opin Neurobiol, 66:85-92.
Fossati M, Assendorp N, Gemin O, Colasse S, Dingli F, Arras G, Loew D and Charrier C, Tans-synaptic signaling via the glutamate receptor delta-1 mediates inhibitory synapse formation in cortical pyramidal neurons (2019) Neuron, 104(6):1081-1094.e7.
Fossati M, Pizzarelli R, Schmidt ER, Kupferman JV, Stroebel D, Polleux F, Charrier C, SRGAP2 and its human-specific paralog co-regulate the development of excitatory and inhibitory synapses (2016) Neuron, 91(2):356-69.
Charrier C, Joshi K, Coutinho-Budd J, Kim JE, Lambert N, de Marchena J, Jin WL, Vanderhaeghen P, Ghosh A, Sassa T and Polleux F, Inhibition of SRGAP2 by its human-specific paralogs induces neoteny during spine maturation (2012) Cell, 149(4):923-35.
