Marie Gauchier, post-doctoral fellow in cell biology, received the 2020 Bettencourt Young Researchers Prize for her work on the repeated genome.

DNA, repetition champion

Our DNA consists of less than 2% genes and more than 50% of repeated sequences. For her PhD, genome organization specialist Mathilde Gauchier studied the mechanisms involved in the formation of heterochromatin, a condensed structure that compacts certain areas of the genome, including repeated DNA sequences.

Her work has contributed to a better understanding of how some cancer cells lengthen their telomeres, repeated structures protecting the ends of chromosomes, leading to their immortalization. At the same time, she identified new mechanisms involved in monitoring and protecting the genome from mobile DNA components called retrotransposons.

Repeated sequences and genetic variations

For her post-doctorate, Dr. Gauchier will continue studying the repeated genome. She will focus on the molecular mechanisms that regulate retrotransposons and microsatellites, a third type of very common repeat sequence, during development. She will study how their instability can modify gene expression. In the long term, her research will lead to a better understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in genome evolution and the appearance of complex traits in individuals.

"The impact of DNA repetitions on the genome is vastly underestimated, so I want to understand how they influence genome activity and the extent to which they contribute to genetic variations between individuals." Mathilde Gauchier

Mathilde Gauchier in a few words

Mathilde Gauchier specializes in molecular genetics. She has studied the structural organization of DNA since her master's degree. She did her thesis under the supervision of Dr Jérôme Dejardin in the Biology of Repeated Sequences Laboratory at the Institute of Human Genetics in Montpellier.

She will do her post-doctoral fellowship in the Mammalian Epigenome Reprogramming Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Todd Macfarlan at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda. She will study the influence of repeated sequences on genome activity. In the longer term, she wants to set up her own research team to better understand the development of complex traits in mammals.

Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers

Created in 1990, the Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers is one of the first initiatives of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. Until 2021, this prize was awarded each year to 14 young doctors of science or doctors of medicine, to enable them to carry out their post-doctoral stay in the best foreign laboratories. 349 young researchers were distinguished. The prize endowment was €25,000.

All the award-winners