Mail : dominique.debanne@univ-amu.fr

Position and past experience

Research Director (DRCE2, CNRS)
INSERM – Aix-Marseille University unit director (UNIS – U1072; 2012-2025)
Team leader (1998-2025)
Avenir INSERM Team leader (2001-2005)

Field of research: Synaptic plasticity (definition of STDP (spike-timing dependent plasticity) learning rules), plasticity of intrinsic neuronal excitability, axon physiology, cellular mechanisms underlying amblyopia and epilepsy

Methods: Patch-clamp electrophysiology, live imaging of axons, pharmacology, computer simulation, acute slices or organotypic slice cultures of brain explants.

Training and supervision: 20 PhD students (3 still in Academic Research with permanent position + ) and 6 post-docs (2 still in Academic Research with permanent position)

Publications in Nature, Science, Neuron, Nat Commun, Sci Advances, PNAS, Physiological Reviews, Nat Rev Neurosci ,TIPS, TINS,…

Education & cursus
-PhD in neuroscience (1992)
-Research Fellow (1996)
-Habilitation to lead research (2000)
-Research Director 2 (2004)
-Research Director 1 (2010)
-Research Director CE1 (2021)
-Research Director CE2 (2023)

Current research interests

Microglia and neuronal excitability Microglia (MG) represent the major population of immune cells of the brain and have many important functions. They are classically involved in the clearance of cellular debris and inactive synapses during development, after learning or following injury. However, MG are also essential in the formation of new excitatory synapses and in the stabilization of inhibitory synapses. In the mature brain, MG are essentially in 2 distinct states: a homeostatic state (MG sense their surroundings) or a reactive state (MG change shape, gene expression and instruct other cells by releasing inflammatory cytokines). MG occupy therefore a key position in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.Microglial processes contact different neuronal comparments, including synapses, somata and the axon initial segment (AIS). While the nature and functional consequences of contacts between MG and synapses and soma have been the subject of numerous studies, MG-AIS interactions have been little studied. We are currently filling this gap.

Mechanosensitive ion channels  Mechanosensitive ion channels are expressed in most neurons. However, the precise cartography of their dendritic versus axonal location remains mostly undefined. In addition, the role of mechanosensitive ion channels in neural plasticity is poorly defined. We are studying these two aspects.