Demystifying the esophageal stem cell functions in esophageal pathologies

Véronique Giroux, Phd
Assistant Professor Professor
Department of Immunology and Cell Biology
Sherbrooke University

This conference is hosted by Jean-François Côté, PhD. This conference is part of the 2023-2024 IRCM conference calendar.

In person: 
IRCM Auditorium
110, avenue des Pins O, H2W 1R7 Montreal

About this conference
Stem cells are essential for tissue maintenance and regeneration following injury. However, their increased capacity to resist various stresses provides them with undesirable functions, such as resistance to cancer treatments. The Giroux lab is interested in better understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underneath the distinct roles of digestive tract stem cells, with the ultimate aim of improving anti-inflammatory and cancer treatments. In this presentation, Prof. Giroux will present, among other things, her team's recent findings demonstrating significant metabolic reprogramming in esophageal cancer cells following prolonged exposure to chemotherapy and radiation. Her team is mainly interested in proline metabolism and lactylation, a novel post-translational modification of lysine residues.

About Véronique Giroux
Pr. Giroux is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and Cell Biology at the Université de Sherbrooke. She obtained her PhD in Cell Biology from Université de Sherbrooke in 2013 where she studied the role of estrogen signaling in IBD and colon cancer using mouse models. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. Anil K. Rustgi at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for her postdoctoral training. She then got interested in stem cell biology and organoid models. During her stay, she identified the first population of stem cells in the esophageal epithelium. In July 2018, she returned to Canada and started her independent career as an Assistant Professor at Université de Sherbrooke where she holds the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair on Gastrointestinal Stem Cell Biology. Funded by CIHR, NSERC and the Cancer Research Society, her research program focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the functions of stem cells in the GI tract. The overarching goal of her laboratory is to develop new therapeutic strategies for digestive diseases by targeting specifically stem cells and their distinct features. She is also strongly committed to graduate student mentoring. She was awarded the RECMUS Prize in 2023 by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in recognition of the quality of her mentoring.

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