Supervisor: Dr. Marie-Isabelle Garcia
Co-Supervisors: Dr. Ingrid Langer, Dr. Jean Yves Springael
The current proposal aims to investigate the physiological role of odorant GPCR receptors ectopically expressed in the colon (1). Preliminary studies using a novel reporter mouse line for the receptor of interest have allowed identifying the cell types expressing this receptor by bulk and single cell RNAseq analyses. Interestingly, expression of the receptor is detected in the stromal compartment in cells recently described as contributing to tissue regeneration (2) The proposed PhD project aims to determine the potential role of this receptor in adult homeostasis and in regeneration in the gut using conditional knockout transgenic mice and lineage tracing experiments. This program will involve an interdisciplinary knowledge across molecular and cellular biology, transcriptomics, animal handling, tissue processing and immunohistological methods.
References:
1. Human Olfactory Receptors Expression and Their Role in Non-Olfactory Tissues.– A Mini-Review Abaffy, J Pharmacogenomics Pharmacoproteomics 2015, 6:4.
2. Colonic healing requires Wnt produced by epithelium as well as Tagln+ and Acta2+ stromal cells. Das et al. Development 2022. Jan 1;149(1):dev199587.