Barbara Demeneix (born 1949) is a biologist and endocrinologist. She is currently team leader in a CNRS research unit at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.
Barbara Demeneix (born 1949) is a biologist and endocrinologist. She is currently team leader in a CNRS research unit at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.
Barbara Demeneix obtained her Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. Hons) at the University of Wales and an M.Sc. at the University of Clermont-Ferrand (France). She completed her PhD in endocrinology and physiology at the University of Calgary (Canada) in 1977 as well as her Doctorat d’Etat (D.Sc.) at the University Paris VI in 1983.
Between 1970 and 1981 Barbara Demeneix taught at different levels in Malawi, Canada, Morocco and France, before taking up a Lectureship at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg from 1981 to 1989. During this period she undertook two research fellowships in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory in Cambridge (1986) and in the Max Planck Institute in Munich (1988-1989).
Since arriving at the National Museum of Natural History in 1990 her research focused on the evolution of thyroid hormone signaling. She sought to understand how thyroid hormones activate or repress gene activity in different tissues at various developmental states and in changing physiological conditions. Working with amphibian and mouse models, she contributed to developing and optimizing techniques to study gene regulation in integrated contexts. Technologies have been patented and licensed out to SMEs (Polyplus, WatchFrog). [1]
In the laboratory, these methods have been applied to advance understanding of:
Barbara Demeneix was nominated to the Chair of Comparative Physiology in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris in 1995. [3] This position was previously held by Claude Bernard, Jean-Pierre Flourens and Frédéric Cuvier. In 1998 she took on the twin direction of Museum Comparative Physiology Laboratory and the CNRS unit UMR 7221 ‘Evolution of Endocrine Regulations’ (1998-2013). In 2001 she became director of the Department ‘Regulations and Development’ of the National Museum of Natural History, a post she held until 2017. This department grouped 3 main research units representing 200 staff. [4] During this period she coordinated two large-scale European projects: CRESCENDO (2005-2011) on nuclear receptors in development and aging, [5] and SWITCHBOX (2011-2015) on maintaining health in old age through homeostasis. [6]
Barbara Demeneix is active with international committees addressing thyroid hormone and endocrine disruption (including the OECD [7] and the European Thyroid Association [8] ).
In 2016 she co-published an opinion column in Le Monde with more than 100 other scientists, in which they asked the EU and the international community to act against endocrine disrupting chemicals. They also condemned the use of strategies for manufacturing doubt employed by industries in the climate change battle. [9]
Barbara Demeneix has published more than 170 scientific publications, [15] and two first-author books.
The endocrine system is a messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neural control center for all endocrine systems. In humans, the major endocrine glands are the thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, pituitary gland, pineal gland, the testes (male), ovaries (female), and the adrenal glands. The hypothalamus, pancreas, and thymus also function as endocrine glands, among other functions. Other organs, such as the kidneys, also have roles within the endocrine system by secreting certain hormones. The study of the endocrine system and its disorders is known as endocrinology. It is one of the most important systems of the human body.
A hormone is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required for the correct development of animals, plants and fungi. Due to the broad definition of a hormone, numerous kinds of molecules can be classified as hormones. Among the substances that can be considered hormones, are eicosanoids, steroids, amino acid derivatives, protein or peptides, and gases.
The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the isthmus. The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. Microscopically, the functional unit of the thyroid gland is the spherical thyroid follicle, lined with follicular cells (thyrocytes), and occasional parafollicular cells that surround a lumen containing colloid. The thyroid gland secretes three hormones: the two thyroid hormones – triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) – and a peptide hormone, calcitonin. The thyroid hormones influence the metabolic rate and protein synthesis and growth and development in children. Calcitonin plays a role in calcium homeostasis. Secretion of the two thyroid hormones is regulated by thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which is secreted from the anterior pituitary gland. TSH is regulated by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), which is produced by the hypothalamus.
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (also known as thyrotropin, thyrotropic hormone, or abbreviated TSH) is a pituitary hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to produce thyroxine (T4), and then triiodothyronine (T3) which stimulates the metabolism of almost every tissue in the body. It is a glycoprotein hormone produced by thyrotrope cells in the anterior pituitary gland, which regulates the endocrine function of the thyroid.
A hormone receptor is a receptor molecule that binds to a specific chemical messenger. Hormone receptors are a wide family of proteins made up of receptors for thyroid and steroid hormones, retinoids and Vitamin D, and a variety of other receptors for various ligands, such as fatty acids and prostaglandins. Hormone receptors are of mainly two classes. Receptors for peptide hormones tend to be cell surface receptors built into the plasma membrane of cells and are thus referred to as trans membrane receptors. An example of this is Actrapid. Receptors for steroid hormones are usually found within the protoplasm and are referred to as intracellular or nuclear receptors, such as testosterone. Upon hormone binding, the receptor can initiate multiple signaling pathways, which ultimately leads to changes in the behavior of the target cells.
Neuroendocrinology is the branch of biology which studies the interaction between the nervous system and the endocrine system; i.e. how the brain regulates the hormonal activity in the body. The nervous and endocrine systems often act together in a process called neuroendocrine integration, to regulate the physiological processes of the human body. Neuroendocrinology arose from the recognition that the brain, especially the hypothalamus, controls secretion of pituitary gland hormones, and has subsequently expanded to investigate numerous interconnections of the endocrine and nervous systems.
The thyroid hormone receptor (TR) is a type of nuclear receptor that is activated by binding thyroid hormone. TRs act as transcription factors, ultimately affecting the regulation of gene transcription and translation. These receptors also have non-genomic effects that lead to second messenger activation, and corresponding cellular response.
Marc Jeannerod was a neurologist, a neurophysiologist and an internationally recognized expert in cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology. His research focuses on the cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning motor control, motor cognition, the sense of agency, and more recently language and social cognition. Jeannerod's work bridges with elegance and rigor various levels of analysis, ranging from neuroscience to philosophy of mind, with clear implications for the understanding of a number of psychiatric and neurological disorders, especially schizophrenia.
Barbara Polla is a Swiss medical doctor, gallery owner, art curator and writer.
Saul Hertz, M.D. was an American physician who devised the medical uses of radioactive iodine. Hertz pioneered the first targeted cancer therapies. Hertz is called the father of the field of theranostics, combining diagnostic imaging with therapy in a single or paired chemical substance(s).
Jacques Friedel ForMemRS was a French physicist and material scientist.
Claude Hagège is a French linguist.
Anne Cheng is a French Sinologist who teaches at the Collège de France and specializes in Chinese history and the history of Chinese philosophy. Pablo Ariel Blitstein, the author of "A new debate about alterity," describes her as an "important representative of French sinology".
Marie Claire Odile Villeval is a French economist and research professor in economics at the National Center for Scientific Research.
Maxime Simon Schwartz, born in June 1940 in Blois (Loir-et-Cher), is a French molecular biologist who has been a research director at the CNRS, a professor at the Pasteur Institute and Director General of the Pasteur Institute. He is a correspondant of the French Academy of sciences.
Alain Berthoz is a French engineer and neurophysiologist.
Jean-Didier Vincent is a French neurobiologist and neuropsychiatrist. He was Professor of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bordeaux II and then at the University of Paris-Sud. From 1991 to 2004 Vincent was Director of the Alfred-Fessard Institute of Neurobiology at the CNRS. He has been a member of both the French Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Medicine since 18 November 2003.
Michel Imbert is a neuropsychologist teacher-researcher in cognitive neurosciences, professor emeritus at Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University and honorary director of studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).
Gaetano "Nino" Salvatore was an Italian endocrinologist known for his extensive research on the thyroid gland. He spent the majority of his career in Naples' Stazione Zoologica and the University of Naples Federico II, while also spending periods at the American National Institutes of Health and in France.
Pierre Léopold is a research director at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and a member of the Institut de France. He heads the Unit of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Curie Institute (Paris), and works with his team to understand the growth processes of organisms.
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