Our Sensorimotor Integration and Brain Body Interaction Lab (SIBBIL, former Spinal Sensory Signalling) combines genetics, biophysics, physiology & behavior to understand how sensory inputs are integrated in the spinal cord during development and active locomotion. The lab discovered that neurons contacting the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the spinal cord are mechanoreceptors detecting curvature of the spinal cord and CSF flow, which modulate the activity of spinal neurons controlling locomotion and posture. We use the transparent zebrafish larva to implement optical methods for manipulating and monitoring neuronal activity in motion. Our work aims to unravel the mechanisms by which interoceptive sensory inputs are integrated throughout life to form the spinal cord, and ensure homeostasis in the mature stages. Full list of publications here: https://www.wyartlab.org/publications
Multiple researchers steer basic science and translational projects in the team:
Trained as a physicist, Claire Wyart pioneered optogenetics in vivo in the transparent zebrafish larva as a postdoc at UC Berkeley with Ehud Isacoff. Since 2011, her team at the Paris Brain Institute has discovered a sensory system at the interface with the cerebrospinal fluid that detects spinal curvature and the chemical content of the fluid, and that shapes locomotion, posture, body-axis morphogenesis and host defense. The team now also studies the brainstem circuits that initiate and steer movement, and how neuromodulation shapes navigation over long timescales. Claire is an Inserm Research Director (DR1), Deputy Director of the Paris Brain Institute and an EMBO member. Her work has been recognised by the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize (2013), the Richard Lounsbery Prize (2022) and the Prix Antoine Lacassagne of the Collège de France (2025).
Dr. Antonio C. Costa is an INSERM researcher with a training in statistical physics & a passion for animal behavior. He's now driving a project supported by ANR JCJC with grad student Remi Gautier on analyzing the long timescales of behavior in domesticated and wild zebrafish.
Dr. Feng Quan is a project manager who supervises molecular/cellular engineers in the lab: she is an expert in CRISPR-Cas genome editing for knock-in and knock-out, and molecular techniques to investigate interoception and CSF signaling. She supervises students and engineers Claire, Julien and Charles.
Dr. Kevin Fidelin is a project manager who supervises coding & imaging engineers in the lab: he is an expert in in vivo electrophysiology, functional optogenetics and dynamic population imaging to investigate the structure and functions of motor nuclei in the brainstem. Kevin worked with Maha and supervises Ninon and Prathigna in the lab - an engineer job is open to work with him, apply!
Dr. Laura Marie-Hardy, MD PhD, surgeon and head of clinic in the orthopaedic department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, runs the SCOGEN project to identify genes involved in idiopathic scoliosis in humans, in collaboration with Serge Zakine.
Prof. Hugues Pascal-Moussellard is a MD/PhD and surgeon in charge of the orthopedic department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris 13. He conducts with Dr. Laura Marie-Hardy, Dr. Thomas Courtin and Prof. Alexis Brice a project aiming to decipher mutations associated with idiopathic scoliosis in humans.
Research
Neuromodulation in the hindbrain and spinal cord
Arousal locomotion is strongly modulated by our inner physiological states. This spontaneous exploratory locomotion reflects the excitability of motor circuits in the spinal cord as well as descending commands from the brain, in particular from the hindbrain. The underlying mechanisms controlling the occurrence of spontaneous locomotion and its natural variability among animals and across physiological states within one animal are not well understood. On one end, we are interested in probing neuromodulatory pathways in the hindbrain and spinal cord for setting the frequency of occurrence of locomotion in the context of circadian rhythm, inflammation and feeding. On the other, we investigate how neuromodulation can influence morphogenesis.
Modulation of motor circuits via the cerebrospinal fluid
The classical view of spinal cord physiology relies on the fact that motor functions are carried by ventral spinal cord while dorsal spinal cord integrates sensory inputs from the periphery. Up to recently, there was no evidence that the vertebrate spinal cord hosts sensory cells conserved throughout vertebrates. Our team has shown evidence for a central sensory motor loop localized in the spinal cord and modulating circuits underlying locomotion and posture. We have evidence that the morphology and molecular markers of this central sensory system is conserved in the mammalian spinal cord. This axial sensory system modulates locomotion, posture, innate immunity and morphogenesis.
Sensory integration in hindbrain and spinal cord throughout life
The contribution of mechanosensory feedback to active locomotion and the nature of underlying spinal circuits remain elusive. We investigate how mechanosensory feedback shapes active locomotion in the zebrafish larva. We find that mechanosensory feedback enhances the recruitment of motor pools during active locomotion. We show that inputs from glutamatergic mechanosensory neurons increase locomotor speed by prolonging fast swimming at the expense of slow swimming during stereotyped acoustic escape responses. The interoceptive sensory integration we have discovered is critical throughout life for growing and maintaining a straight body axis. Altogether, our efforts reveal the basic principles and circuit diagram underlying the modulation of movement, posture and morphogenesis by adjusted mechanosensory feedback in the vertebrate spinal cord.
People

Clothilde Colart
- Postdoc at ICM
Biography
Clothilde did her first two years of bachelor at University of Lille with a major in Cell biology. After a gap year in Australia, she integrated the “Magistère Européen de Génétique” (University of Paris) for her last year of Bachelor, followed by her Master. There, she had the opportunity to do a 4-months internship in Porto (Portugal) in the team of Nuno dos Santos, where she learned techniques of molecular biology. Her long-term interest has always been the biology of Development, but she recently discovered with pleasure the world of Neurosciences. She followed the Pasteur’s course “Development & Plasticity of the Nervous System”. She integrated the team for a Master internship and then a PhD to study the molecular mechanisms underlying body axis straightening in the embryo.
Project
Clothilde did her PhD in the lab (defended 26 Sept 2025, supervised by Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif) on the molecular mechanisms of body-axis straightening in the zebrafish embryo, in particular the contribution of the Reissner fibre to noradrenergic signalling in the spinal cord. As a postdoc in the lab, she has now started a new project investigating whole-body responses to mechanical forces.

Leonard Constien
- Ph.D. student at Sorbonne Université (SU)
- Ph.D. student at ICM
Project
Leonard's PhD investigates how serotonergic neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus maintain behavioural states such as sleep or foraging, and their possible role in ADHD. He tests whether loss of the ADHD risk gene cadherin-13 alters these neurons and destabilises behaviour. He now combines the analysis of data from Marques et al. (Nature 2020) with his own experiments on navigation and decision making. He works closely with Giulia Messa, Antonio C. Costa and Claire Wyart.

Antonio C. Costa
- Principal Investigator at INSERM
Biography
Antonio's main research focus is the physics of animal behavior. In particular, working with Remi Gautier in the lab on the long timescales of behavior in domesticated and wild zebrafish, and providing guidance to Leonard (Leo) Constien, Antonio aims to understand how behavior is organized on multiple scales, from fine scale muscle activations driven by neural activity to changes in navigation patterns modulated by the environment or internal states. He combines ideas from statistical mechanics, dynamical systems and information theory to build effective multi-scale descriptions of complex dynamics, inspired by measurement data of behaving animals. More info on his work here: https://antonioccosta.github.io/
Project
Antonio works on the physics of animal behaviour, combining statistical mechanics, dynamical systems and information theory to describe behaviour across scales, from fine movements to navigation shaped by the environment or internal states. He now leads a project with Remi Gautier on the long timescales of behaviour in domesticated and wild zebrafish. He also provides guidance to Leonard Constien. He now also has a double affiliation with the CBI (Centre de Biologie Intégrative) in Toulouse, to investigate questions of inter-individual variability related to ecology.

Kevin Fidelin
- Principal Investigator at ICM
Biography
Kevin is a neurobiologist with 12 years of experience leading fundamental research projects in academic laboratories in North America & Europe. Kevin first trained as molecular biologist and geneticist at Université Paris Cité before pursuing a curriculum in neuroscience for his PhD at the Paris Brain Institute and Sorbonne Université. During his PhD in the Wyart lab, Kevin leveraged genetic targeting approaches to label single class of spinal sensory neurons in the zebrafish model system and combined imaging, optogenetics, and electrophysiology approaches to resolve spinal sensory circuit function in vivo. For his postdoctoral work, Kevin broadened his expertise using novel viral tracing approaches to selectively label and image the recruitment of projection-specific neuronal subpopulations in the brainstem in mice in vivo.
Project
Kevin joined in September 2024 to study the genetic, anatomical and functional conservation across species of brainstem circuits at risk in Parkinson's disease. He combines in vivo electrophysiology, functional optogenetics and population imaging to study motor nuclei in the brainstem. He investigates molecular markers of cell types in the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) and masters both mouse and zebrafish models. He supervises the lab's coding and imaging engineers, including Ninon and Prathigna. An engineer position to work with him is open: see the job post.
Published
- [2021] Spinal sensory neurons project onto the hindbrain to stabilize posture and enhance locomotor speed
- [2019] Dynactin1 depletion leads to neuromuscular synapse instability and functional abnormalities
- [2017] Mechanosensory neurons control the timing of spinal microcircuit selection during locomotion
- [2016] Optimization of Botulinum toxin to probe the role of specific interneurons in innate locomotion
- [2016] Three-dimensional spatiotemporal focusing of holographic patterns,
- [2015] State-Dependent Modulation of Locomotion by GABAergic Spinal Sensory Neurons
- [2014] Inhibition and motor control in the developing zebrafish spinal cord

Remi Gautier
- Ph.D. student at Sorbonne Université (SU)
- Ph.D. student at ICM
Project
Remi's PhD asks how individual differences in behaviour emerge and persist when the environment is unpredictable, balancing specialisation through learning with diversity across a population. With Antonio Costa, he analyses the long timescales of behaviour in domesticated and wild zebrafish.

Théophine Gurlie
- Project manager at ICM
Biography
Théophine works half-time as project manager of SPARK, the Richard Mille Foundation programme targeting resilient motor circuits in Parkinson's disease, and half-time for the Science Development Directorate (SciDe) of the Paris Brain Institute, which develops fundamental and translational science.

Tania Joanet
- Ph.D. student at CNRS (IJM)
- Ph.D. student at ICM
Project
Tania's PhD studies the role of LRRCC1 in the rotational asymmetry of centrioles and in vertebrate development. In the lab, her zebrafish project aims to understand the role of LRRCC1 in ciliary functions in vivo during development. She is co-supervised by Juliette Azimzadeh and Claire Wyart.

Elias Lunsford
- Postdoc at ICM
Biography
Trained in Ecology, Dr. Lunsford learned fish biomechanics and ethology.
By pioneering a preparation to record the activity of lateral line in diverse species, Elias described the evolution of this sensory system in cave morphs of Astyanax and uncovered the hair cell transduction mechanism of fresh water fish.
Elias now learns molecular and optical techniques in zebrafish to understand how different water flows along the body lead to diverse motor actions, and how this process evolves during growth in development.
Project
Elias, trained in ecology, fish biomechanics and ethology, studies how water flow sensed by the lateral line along the body is turned into different movements in zebrafish, and how this changes during development. His 2026 PNAS paper shows that lateral line inputs are processed across the whole body to encode flow direction relative to the centre of mass. He holds an HFSP fellowship and won the best talk award at the Motor Control: Spinal cord and beyond conference (2025).

Laura Marie-Hardy
Project
Laura works on SCOGEN, which looks for genes involved in idiopathic scoliosis, in collaboration with Serge Zakine, and on spinal cord injury. In the lab, she led work showing that loss of the sensory function of CSF-contacting neurons causes a hyper-kyphosis of the spine resembling Scheuermann's disease. She now investigates, with Claire, Kevin and Feng, how to study the human spinal cord and brainstem in search of conservation.

Giulia Messa
- Postdoc at ICM
Biography
Giulia Messa is an expert of motor circuits in the brainstem ! she trained in the lab of Stella Koutsikou in the UK and joined the team to work with Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif on morphogenesis!
Project
Giulia, who trained in brainstem motor circuits with Stella Koutsikou (UK), joined the team to work on body-axis morphogenesis, initially with Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif, and then transitioned to supervision by Claire Wyart to continue her project. Her work shows that serotonin signalling in the central nervous system is required for correct spine morphogenesis in zebrafish (Current Biology, in press).

Hugues Pascal Moussellard
- Associate Professor and MD at Sorbonne Université (SU)
Biography
Hugues is M.D. Ph.D., professor at Sorbonne Université and head of the orthopedics department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. He did his initial studies in Marseille and was trained by Catonnet in Martinique at the beginning of his career.
Project
With Laura Marie-Hardy, Thomas Courtin and Alexis Brice, Hugues runs SCOGEN, a project to identify mutations linked to idiopathic scoliosis in humans. He also aims to record all physiological parameters soon after spinal cord injury, to understand how they covary and how best to treat patients.
Published

Ninon Peysson
- Ph.D. student at Sorbonne Université (SU)
- Ph.D. student at ICM
Biography
Ninon Peysson has been a PhD student in the lab since April 2025. After graduating from l’Ecole des Mines de Saint Etienne, Ninon enrolled an additional Master 2 at the school Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle (ESPCI/UPC) focusing on Neurosciences and Engineering. Since the beginning of her studies, Ninon has been interested in academic neuroscience, which led her to work on different topics during her master. After investigating cognition & language, resting state fMRI neural networks, or frontotemporal dementia, she got convinced to opt for motor control as her main topic of interest after finishing her Master project at the Paris Seine Biology Institute (IBPS) supervised by Dr. Elim Hong. Nowadays she is studying the connectivity of neural networks in the brainstem, focusing on all optical experiments based on two photon digital holography with temporal focusing to activate single or groups of reticulospinal neurons.
Project
Ninon studies the connectivity of brainstem networks with all-optical experiments, using two-photon holographic stimulation of single or small groups of reticulospinal neurons. Her PhD maps dopamine-modulated motor command circuits in the mesencephalic locomotor region, and how they trigger locomotion or motor arrest in normal conditions and Parkinson's models. She is co-supervised by Kevin Fidelin, Pierre Pouget and Claire Wyart. She received an SfN Travel Award for Neuroscience 2026.

Feng Quan
- Principal Investigator at ICM
Biography
Feng is an engineer who started a PhD in january 2017 in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural History with Prof. Hervé Tostivint.
Project
Feng supervises the lab's molecular and cellular engineers. She is an expert in CRISPR-Cas genome editing (knock-in and knock-out) and in molecular techniques for studying interoception and CSF signalling. Her work focuses on the proteins and peptides secreted by CSF-contacting neurons in zebrafish and mammals, and recently on the chemoreception pathways of these neurons. She leads a project on the role of GPCRs in left/right morphogenesis, which illustrates how the nervous system communicates with other organs, namely the musculature and the notochord, to build and maintain a straight body axis throughout life.
Published
- [2021] Spinal sensory neurons project onto the hindbrain to stabilize posture and enhance locomotor speed
- [2017] The dual developmental origin of spinal cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons gives rise to distinct functional subtypes
- [2015] Comparative distribution and in vitro activities of the urotensin II-related peptides URP1 and URP2 in zebrafish: evidence for their colocalization in spinal cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons

Annaelle Redon
- Ph.D. student at Sorbonne Université (SU)
- Ph.D. student at ICM
Biography
Annaëlle Redon joined a Master’s program in Genetics at University Paris Cité (France) motivated by her interest in neuroscience and her desire to explore it at the molecular level through genetics. After completing her Master’s degree in 2024, she began her PhD at the Paris Brain Institute, working on a collaborative project supervised by Claire Wyart and Jacobo Sitt. Her project aims to investigate the effects of dominant mutations in the PPP2R5D gene that are associated with early-onset parkinsonism in humans. She will use the zebrafish model to elucidate the role of the PPP2R5D gene and its implications in motor function. PPP2R5D, a regulatory subunit of the serine-threonine phosphatase PP2A, has been associated with early-onset parkinsonism in genetic studies, showing specific motor phenotypes for distinct point mutations. Although the E200K mutation in this gene is rare, these patients exhibit motor deficits and respond well to treatment with dopaminergic receptor agonists. Dopaminergic neurons are one of the critical population of cells to degenerate in Parkinson’s disease. Annaelle will investigate whether recessive and dominante negative mutations in PPP2R5D trigger motor deficits by disrupting the functions of dopaminergic neurons. She will take advantage of the zebrafish genetic model organism with its short developmental cycle, high fecundity, transparency, genetic accessibility and established behavioral assays. Annaëlle will investigate the expression of PPP2R5D in motor circuits of the brain and spinal cord. Her PhD project benefits from the expertise of the Wyart’s team in zebrafish behavioral genetics and from the Sitt’s team, which specializes in algorithms and data analysis to compare wild-type and parkinsonism disease models.
Project
Annaëlle studies dominant mutations in the PPP2R5D gene that cause early-onset parkinsonism in humans. She uses zebrafish to test whether these mutations cause motor deficits by disrupting dopaminergic neurons, and maps where the gene is expressed in brain and spinal motor circuits. This joint project with Jacobo Sitt's team combines the lab's zebrafish behavioural genetics with Sitt's data analysis.

Claire Wyart
- Director of Research at INSERM
- Team leader at ICM
Biography
Claire Wyart studied at the École Normale Supérieure (Paris) and did her PhD in biophysics at the University of Strasbourg (2003), developing methods to control neuronal networks in vitro. As a postdoc at UC Berkeley (2005–2010) with Ehud Isacoff and Noam Sobel, she pioneered optogenetics in vivo in the transparent zebrafish larva. Since 2011 she has led her team at the Paris Brain Institute, which discovered a sensory system at the interface with the cerebrospinal fluid that detects spinal curvature and the chemical content of the fluid. The team now also studies the brainstem circuits that initiate and steer movement. Claire is an Inserm Research Director (DR1) and Deputy Director of the Paris Brain Institute, in charge of the development of basic and translational science, and an EMBO member (2019). She has received the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize (2013), the NYSCF Robertson Award (2016), the Richard Lounsbery Prize (2022) and the Prix Antoine Lacassagne of the Collège de France (2025). Her team has been funded by the ERC (Starting and Consolidator grants), HFSP and the NIH.
Project
Claire leads SIBBIL (formerly Spinal Sensory Signalling), which studies how neuronal circuits integrate signals from the brain, the body periphery and internal cues to adapt locomotion and posture to the animal's physiological state. The team uses the transparent zebrafish larva to monitor and manipulate neuronal activity during behaviour. It discovered that neurons contacting the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sense spinal curvature and the chemical content of the CSF. The lab now also investigates the brainstem motor circuits that initiate and steer movement. It also investigates how neuromodulation affects motor circuits and navigation across long timescales, providing a basis for inter-individual variability.
Alumni
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Veronicá Perez-Schuster
Postdoc 2024–2026 Now: Researcher, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Martin Carbo-Tano
Postdoc 2017–2024 Now: Research scientist, Copenhagen
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Adeline Orts Del'Immagine
Postdoc 2017–2022 Now: Assistant Professor, Université Paris Cité
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Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif
Postdoc 2017–2020 Now: CNRS researcher, IBPS, Paris
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Adna Dumitrescu
Postdoc 2017–2020 Now: Project manager in public health
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Olivier Thouvenin
Postdoc 2017–2018 Now: Assistant Professor, ESPCI
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Andrew Prendergast
Postdoc 2014–2019 Now: Head of a facility, Yale University
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Jeff Hubbard
Postdoc 2014–2017 Now: Group leader, Neuroservice
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Kristen Severi
Postdoc 2013–2017 Now: Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
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Pierre-Luc Bardet
Assistant Professor 2013–2020
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Joana Guedes
Project manager 2021–2025 Now: NeuroMatch, UK
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Xinyu Jia
PhD 2020–2026
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Mahalakshmi Dhanasekar
PhD 2020–2026 Now: Postdoc, Swaka lab
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Gautam Sridhar
PhD 2020–2025 Now: Postdoc, OIST
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Faustine Ginoux
PhD 2022–2024 Now: In the Navy, Toulon, France
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Mathilde Lapoix
PhD 2019–2022 Now: MD, Lyon, France
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Hugo Marnas
PhD 2017–2021
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Ming-Yue Wu
PhD 2016–2020 Now: Staff scientist, Shanghai, China
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Laura Desban
PhD 2014–2018 Now: Postdoc, University of Oregon, USA
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Urs Böhm
PhD 2012–2016 Now: Inserm researcher, IPNP
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Jenna Sternberg
PhD 2012–2016 Now: Life science editor, USA
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Steven Knafo
PhD 2012–2015 Now: MD PhD, Kremlin-Bicêtre
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Lydia Djenoune
PhD 2011–2015 Now: PI & Senior Scientist, MGH Boston, USA
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Olivier Mirat
PhD 2011–2013 Now: Freelance coder
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Agnès Hocquemiller
Engineer 2020–2025
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Loeva Tocquer
Engineer 2020–2024
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Julian Roussel
Engineer 2017–2023
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Sophie Nunes Figueiredo
Engineer 2013–2015
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Celine Bellegarda
Engineer 2022
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Zaineb El Bourakkadi
Engineer
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Yezza Selmani
Administrative assistant
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Guillaume Zavard
Master student
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Apoorvaa Krishnamurthy
Master student
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Amin Benadjal
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Clara Besserer
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Paul Bivas
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Alban Doinel
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Fanny Eggeler
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Sophia Horowicz
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Fanny Koëth
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Julie Lafaye
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Shubham Sahu
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Sara Zeppilli
Publications
In the pipeline
- . Unraveling phenotypic variation in multiscale behavioral dynamics. bioRxiv. . submitted.
- . Whole brain mapping of spinal-projecting neurons in larval zebrafish. bioRxiv (in revision at eLife). . under revision.
- . Diverse paths for chemoreception in ciliated neurons contacting the cerebrospinal fluid in the spinal cord. bioRxiv. . submitted.
- . Cerebrospinal Fluid Noradrenergic Signaling Sustains Motor Arrest by Suppressing Descending Motor Commands. bioRxiv (in revision at Nature Neuroscience). . under revision.
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All-optical investigation reveals a hierarchical organization of vsx2+ reticulospinal neurons coordinating steering and forward locomotion. Research Square (in revision at Nature Communications). . under revision.
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Gender Equity in Life Sciences Funding: Impact of Positive Actions in Europe. Current Biology (invited essay) under revision.
Latest Publications
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Serotonin signalling in the central nervous system is required for correct spine morphogenesis in zebrafish. Current Biology (in press). .
- . Body-segment coordination as a new predictor of freezing of gait in people with Parkinson’s disease. Brain Communications, in press. Preprint: bioRxiv. .
- . Whole-body central processing of lateral line inputs encodes flow direction relative to the center-of-mass. PNAS, 123:e2515782123. .
- . Trans-Synaptic Virus Tracing Reveals Reciprocal Connections of the Interpeduncular Nucleus With the Mood, Exteroceptive, Interoceptive, and Motor Control Systems. J Comp Neurol 533:e70105. .
- . Norepinephrine changes behavioral state via astroglial purinergic signaling. Science 388,769-775(2025). .
- . Uncovering multiscale structure in the variability of larval zebrafish navigation. PNAS, 121:e2410254121. .
- . Fluctuating landscapes and heavy tails in animal behavior. PRX Life. 2024 2:10.1103/prxlife.2.023001. .
- . Holographic Optogenetic Activation of Neurons Eliciting Locomotion in Head-Embedded Larval Zebrafish. Methods Molecular Biology 2707:125-140. .
- . The mesencephalic locomotor region recruits distributed V2a reticulospinal neurons to drive forward locomotion. Nature Neuroscience 26:1775-1790. .
- . SCO-spondin knockout mice exhibit small brain ventricles and mild spine deformation. Fluids Barriers CNS 20:89. .
- . Loss of CSF-contacting neuron sensory function is associated with a hyper-kyphosis of the spine reminiscent of Scheuermann's disease. Scientific Reports 13:5529. .
- . The Reissner fiber under tension in vivo shows dynamic interaction with ciliated cells contacting the cerebrospinal fluid. eLife 12: e86175. .
Events
01.01.2027
Upcoming: International Zebrafish PI Society meeting, Mérida, Mexico (January 2027)
01.12.2026
Upcoming: international conference "The Body in Dialogue: How the Brain Communicates with Organs", Paris Brain Institute, December 3–6, 2026 Register and sign up for a poster!
24.10.2026
Messa G, Wyart C# [2026]. Serotonin signalling in the central nervous system is required for correct spine morphogenesis in zebrafish. Current Biology, in press.
22.10.2026
Ninon Peysson was awarded a Travel Award from the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) for the SfN annual meeting in Washington, DC, November 2026!
19.10.2026
Dr. Kevin Fidelin was selected for a talk at the Motor Symposium organised by NIH & Georgetown University, just before the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting in Washington, DC, November 2026!
01.10.2026
Talks 2026: KITP program "Geometry and Intercellular Interactions in Morphogenesis of Animals and Plants" at UC Santa Barbara, plus the CSHL Neural Circuits meeting (March), the Chinese Society for Neuroscience meeting in Fuzhou (September), the Neuromodulation meeting at the Paris Brain Institute (September), and a keynote at the Scoliosis Foundation meeting in Paris (December)
10.09.2026
Romanato et al., Brain Communications (in press): body-segment coordination predicts freezing of gait in people with Parkinson's disease
01.02.2026
Lunsford et al., PNAS: whole-body central processing of lateral line inputs encodes flow direction relative to the center-of-mass
01.01.2026
Welcome to Remi Gautier, who starts his PhD in the lab under the supervision of Antonio Costa!
01.09.2025
Charlotte Le Mouel, Julien Bouvier & Claire Wyart organise the Motor control conference in health and disease at Sorbonne Université
20.06.2025
Dr Elias Lunsford received the best talk award at the Motor Control: Spinal cord and beyond conference!
01.05.2025
Deep Brain Stimulation meeting at the Paris Brain Institute
01.04.2025
Congratulations to Xinyu Jia, PhD!
01.04.2025
Welcome to Ninon Peysson, who starts her PhD in the lab!
01.04.2025
Welcome to Leonard Constien, who starts his PhD in the lab!
01.04.2025
Filippo Del Bene and Claire Wyart organised the European Zebrafish PI meeting in Paris
01.01.2025
Prix Antoine Lacassagne of the Collège de France awarded to Claire Wyart. The lab's work on sensory neurons contacting the cerebrospinal fluid and their roles in posture, morphogenesis and host defense is recognized by the Collège de France.
01.01.2025
Antonio Carlos Costa joins Inserm as a permanent researcher. Congratulations to Antonio, postdoc in the lab since 2023, on his permanent Inserm position!
01.01.2025
New grant: ANR CIRCOLOCO (2025–2028), "Investigation of the pineal gland in circadian rhythms"
01.01.2025
Chen et al., Science: norepinephrine changes behavioral state via astroglial purinergic signaling (with the Ahrens and Engert labs)
01.01.2025
Talks 2025: KITP program "Neurophysics of Active Sensing" at UC Santa Barbara, plus talks at OIST, NYU, NeuroAI Paris and AXON2025
11.12.2024
Congratulations to Mahalakshmi Dhanasekar, PhD!
01.11.2024
Congratulations to Tanita Tzotzolaki, PhD!
01.11.2024
Welcome to Annaelle Redon, who starts her PhD in the lab!
01.11.2024
Cajal course on motor control in Bordeaux, with Claire as organizer (Nov–Dec 2024)
24.10.2024
Sridhar et al., PNAS: uncovering multiscale structure in the variability of larval zebrafish navigation. Gautam Sridhar developed a method to quantify long timescales in behavior and identify how individuals differ in their navigation across timescales.
08.10.2024
Congratulations to Gautam Sridhar, PhD!
01.09.2024
First Richard Lounsbery international symposium, De Duca Foundation, Paris
05.03.2024
First Brain Body Interaction conference at the Paris Brain Institute: focus on cognition!
01.01.2024
Claire Wyart promoted to Inserm Research Director, first class (DR1), and appointed Deputy Director of the Paris Brain Institute, in charge of the development of basic and translational science. Claire takes on this role at the Paris Brain Institute while continuing to lead the lab.
01.01.2024
New grant: ANR RocSMAP (2024–2027), "The role of competitive selection mechanisms in the asymmetric pathway"
01.01.2024
Costa et al., PRX Life: fluctuating landscapes and heavy tails in animal behavior
04.09.2023
Congratulations to Martin for his article in Nature Neuroscience !!
16.08.2023
Check our review on the versatility of functions carried by CSF-contacting neurons!
20.07.2023
Claire teaches in the Development Neuronal Circuits Course in Okinawa!
05.07.2023
Cilia, Gautam, Maha, Elias, Faustine & Claire in EPFL Motor School 2023!
12.06.2023
Joana and Claire organize together with Gautam & Cilia the last ZENITH symposium !
05.01.2023
Lydia Djenoune, alumna of the lab, publishes an amazing study in Science on the role of cilia in guiding left-right asymmetry during development.
01.01.2023
Elias T. Lunsford awarded a Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) long-term fellowship!
01.01.2023
New grant: Richard Mille Foundation (2023–2030), "SPARK: targeting resilient motor circuits in Parkinson's disease"
20.06.2022
Congratulations to Mathilde Lapoix for getting her diploma of PhD in the University of Paris Cité!
01.01.2022
G. Reddy: A novel method to unbiasedly identify sequences of actions in complex motor patterns !
15.03.2021
Olivier Thouvenin shares an automated method for analyzing flow and cilia motility !!
01.11.2020
Thank you to the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller (FBS) for supporting our work on motor control !
15.10.2020
Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif: Adrenergic activation influences the signal from the Reissner fiber
01.10.2020
Congrats to Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif who got the national exams from CNRS and INSERM !
01.09.2020
Thank you to Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) for supporting our team !
22.06.2020
Check out the latest version of ZebraZoom to monitor kinematics and posture in fish!
01.04.2020
The Zenith European Training Network has selected students !
23.03.2020
Congrats to Adna and Charlotte: A calibrated toolbox for in vivo optogenetics in zebrafish !
09.03.2020
Congrats Adeline & Yasmine: the Reissner fiber is required to detect spinal curvature !
15.01.2020
Modelling the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the central canal!
30.06.2019
Innate immunity at the CSF interface: how do sensory neurons fight infections in the CNS !
11.06.2019
Claire Wyart is elected EMBO Member !
15.04.2019
An article on morphogenesis and sensory function : how do microvilli contribute to sensing!
11.09.2018
Hindbrain circuits underlying locomotion : focus on the inhibitory Eng1 brainstem neurons!
01.09.2018
Check out single channel recordings IN VIVO: PKD2L1 & mechanotransduction !
15.03.2018
HFSP research grant for the team: Investigation of signalling in the CSF in fish & mouse !
01.01.2018
Postdoc fellowships for Olivier, Martin and Yasmine: Congrats!
24.10.2017
Movie on the team : What is happening in the mind of scientists...
03.10.2017
Congrats to Adna Dumitrescu for her travel grant : good luck now for your experiments in Chicago!
02.10.2017
Congrats to Yasmine Cantaut-Belarif, PL Bardet for the Big Brain Theory grant from ICM !!!
14.09.2017
Congrats to Martin Carbo-Tano for the Prestige fellowship!
16.08.2017
Our review is out on CSF-contacting neurons in Journal of Neurogenetics !
14.07.2017
Mechanosensory feedback enhances speed of locomotion via a novel circuit !
01.04.2017
April 2017: Kevin moves to Columbia University
16.03.2017
March 2017: Kristen moves to the Bormuth lab in UPMC!
01.03.2017
March 2017: Urs starts in Harvard University
01.03.2017
Lydia starts in Harvard university
09.02.2017
A study on neurosecretory properties and morphology of neurons contacting the CSF!
07.02.2017
Claire is awarded the 2017 prize from the Fondation Scientifique pour l Education et la Recherche
21.11.2016
Claire is awarded the 2016 New York Stem Cell Foundation Innovator in Neuroscience Robertson Award
20.10.2016
Claire is a 2016 awardee of the EMBO-Young Investigator Program
20.08.2016
How do neurons contacting the CSF project on fast locomotor circuits in the spinal cord ?
04.07.2016
Check out the botulinum toxin light chain to silence vesicular release in vivo !
23.05.2016
3D holographic method for optogenetic applications with the Emiliani lab!
22.02.2016
First in vivo demonstration of the mechanosensory function of neurons contacting the CSF !
15.12.2015
Identification of the V0-v as targets of neurons contacting the CSF in the spinal cord !
01.09.2014
Conservation of neurons contacting the cerebrospinal fluid in mouse, macaque and zebrafish !
01.04.2013
Congrats to Olivier Mirat: Development of the first version tracking algorithm ZebraZoom !