Pascal de Santa Barbara

Pascal de Santa Barbara is an expert in Developmental Biology and Gastroenterology. He works for 20 years on the differentiation and plasticity of digestive smooth muscle cells. After obtaining his PhD at the University of Montpellier in 1998, he followed a postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School, BOSTON) on the vertebrate gastrointestinal tract and was recruited at INSERM in 2004. Since 2011, he leads the INSERM team “Development of visceral smooth muscle and associated pathologies”. He has contributed to 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals (H index = 24) and 6 international patents. He was a member of the Specialized Scientific Committee of INSERM (CSS5-Physiopathology, 2012-2016), of the National Committee of the ARC Foundation (CN3-Cellular Biology, 2017-2020), and of the Board of the French Society of Developmental Biology (Treasurer of the SFBD, 2011-2016).

Sandrine Faure is an expert in Developmental Biology and the interaction of neural crest with surrounding mesenchyme. After obtaining a PhD at the University of Montpellier in 1997, she followed a postdoctoral training at Harvard (BOSTON). She was recruited at the CNRS in 2001, responsible for a project on the specification / migration of the neural crest in vertebrates (CRBM, Montpellier). She joined the PHYMEDEXP laboratory in 2010 to study the influence of neural crest cells on the development of the gastrointestinal tract. She has developed internationally recognized expertise on the development of neural crest cells and the immaturity of digestive mesenchymal cells. Since 2021, she co-leads the INSERM team “Development of visceral smooth muscle and associated pathologies”. She contributed to 33 publications in peer-reviewed journals (H index = 21) and 2 international patents. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the French Society of Developmental Biology (SFBD, 2002-2006) and is currently a member of the National Committee of the ARC Foundation (CN3-Cellular Biology, 2021-2025). She recently participated to the SPEEDING ARROW network supported by GENOPOLYS, Montpellier (Scientific Professionals on Evolution and Embryonic Development Initiating General public and Adolescents to Research and Research Occupations World) that bring Developmental Biology and more particularly Chick Embryo development to High School.