National Institute of Health & Medical Research
Paris, FR
The Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM, National Institute of Health & Medical Research) is the only public sector research organization in France exclusively dedicated to human health. INSERM operates under the joint authority of the French Ministries of Health and of Research. It employs 15 000 scientists, engineers and technicians in around 350 laboratories all with one shared objective, namely to promote health by advancing knowledge about living organisms and their diseases, developing innovative treatment modalities, and conducting research on public health. Two INSERM laboratories are involved in ENDOMIX: the Research Institute on Environmental and Occupational Health (Irset, Rennes) and the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB, Grenoble).
Role in the project
The team consists of experts experienced in diverse disciplines including epidemiology, biostatistics, cellular and molecular toxicology. They are particularly involved in (1) WP1 and WP5 for their expertise in conducting epidemiological studies to evaluate the role of environmental exposures on child health from mother-child cohort studies, and (2) WP4 for their expertise on zebrafish models and human immune cells, as well as development of in vitro models of complex 3D organoids, to study impacts of EDC on metabolic liver diseases especially by looking at the role of extracellular vesicles in the gut-liver axis (microbiota and immune cells).
Team
Charline Warembourg
Charline Warembourg (WP1 leader, WP5 member) is a researcher in environmental epidemiology, working at the Research Institute on Environmental and Occupational Health (Irset, Rennes). With the team 9 “Lifecourse Epidemiology and Exposure Science for Environmental Health” directed by Cécile Chevrier, she leads epidemiological studies on the impact of environmental contaminants on child cardiometabolic health. She has extensive experience in conducting longitudinal research study and is the co-PI of the Pelagie mother-child cohort. She participates in European projects on exposome (HELIX 2013-2018 and ATHLETE 2020-2024) and endocrine disruptors (OBERON 2019-2023 and ENDOMIX 2024-2028), with a particular interest in early-life exposure to multiple chemicals and cardiometabolic health later in age.
Normand Podechard
Normand Podechard (WP4 member) is assistant Professor of Cell Biology at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Rennes and carries out his research in the field of environmental toxicology at the Research Institute on Environmental and Occupational Health (Irset, Rennes). With the team 3 “Stress, Membrane and Signalization” directed by Dr Dominique Lagadic-Gossmann, he leads studies on the impact of environmental pollutants and particularly EDC on MASLD (Metabolic dysfunction–Associated Liver Disease). To this aim, he has acquired a strong expertise on the use of the in vivo model of zebrafish larva. He is currently participating to the European OBERON project in which he has developed in vivo screening bioassays on zebrafish to identify endocrine disruptors favoring MASLD (2019-2023). He is also involved in the national hub FHU GO-NASH (Grand Ouest Nash Research Network) with projects aiming at deciphering the roles of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in this context of MASLD and exposure to EDC. Within the team, he works with Dr Corinne Martin-Chouly to study the impacts of EVs on the crosstalks between immune system and hepatic cells, and with Dr Marie-Laure Pinel to investigate the gut-liver axis and the roles of microbiota EVs, both during MASLD development and progression.
Sophie Langouët
Sophie Langouët is research director and group leader of the DYMEC2 team (Dynamics of Microenvironment, Contaminants and Cancer) at the Research Institute on Environmental and Occupational Health (Irset, Rennes). Expert in cellular and molecular toxicology in the context of exposome, her work focuses on the activation of xenobiotic metabolism, the deregulation of hepatic metabolism and DNA damages caused by various environmental contaminants, notably EDCs and heterocyclic aromatic amines. She is tackling these challenges by developing complex human liver organoids reproducing several pathological stages of liver diseases, in particular steatosis and fibrosis. Involved in several European projects such as Oberon (2019-2024), PARC (2022-2027) and ENDOMIX (2024-2028) as well as national collaborative projects funded by ITMO Cancer, Avisean, ANSES….
X: @S_langouet; LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophielangouetprigent
Claire Philippat
Claire Philippat is a permanent researcher at INSERM, working in the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB, Grenoble). She develops her research program on the effects of environmental chemicals on child health and on the underlying pathways mediating such effects. She is one of the principal investigator of the SEPAGES cohort and the IRECO intervention study. She is coordinating several research projects funded by ANSES, ANR and Fondation de France and is involved in ongoing European projects.