On February 10^th, the CRCHUM Interdisciplinary Conference will feature Nicole Leclerc, a researcher with the CRCHUM’s Neuroscience Research Theme and a full professor in the Neuroscience Department of the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine. This hybrid conference can be attended in person or via Zoom.

L’expertise de Nicole Leclerc porte sur la pathologie de la protéine tau présente dans plusieurs

Nicole Leclerc is an expert in the pathology of the tau protein, found in several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Our laboratory examines the contribution of the tau protein to the neurodegenerative process that occurs in Alzheimer’s disease and PSP. Our work focuses on the mechanisms involved in the spread of tau pathology in the brain that lead to neuron death. In collaboration with Dr. Antoine Duquette of the CHUM, we set up a human neuronal model in the laboratory which we created using fibroblasts isolated from skin biopsies of patients with Alzheimer’s disease or PSP in order to perform transcriptomic and proteomic analyses that will allow us to highlight the cellular changes that lead to tau pathology. Working with Alex Parker’s laboratory at the CRCHUM, we also developed tau transgenic c. elegans as an experimental model for drug repositioning.

Nicole Leclerc is a full professor in the Neuroscience Department of the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine and a researcher with the CRCHUM’s Neuroscience Research Theme. She holds a PhD from Laval University, for which her research work, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Hawkes, dealt with the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of the cerebellum. She subsequently completed two postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University under the supervision of Karl Herrup and Ken Kosik. She has expertise in the pathology of the tau protein found in several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.