Delphine Bohl

I hold a PhD in virology and gene therapy from University Paris 7, completed in 1997 under the supervision of Dr. Jean-Michel Heard at the Pasteur Institute of Paris. I joined INSERM as a Research Associate in 1998 and became an associate professor in 2000. Since January 2014, I have been a Principal Investigator in the "ALS causes and mechanisms of motor neuron degeneration" team at the Paris Brain Institute (ICM). In 2012, I transferred my knowledge of iPSC technology to a new platform at the ICM that I scientifically managed until 2021. This platform now runs on its own with an operational manager and provides iPSC clones and CRISPR/CAS9 modified clones to internal and external users.

During my PhD, I worked on beta-thalassemia and lysosomal storage diseases, pioneering gene therapy approaches using viral vectors and demonstrating regulated protein secretion in vivo with doxycycline-regulatable AAV vectors. Then I developed a solid expertise in stem cells and in the human iPSC technology to model motor neuron pathologies. Today, my primary research focus is to use iPSC to study Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a heterogenous motoneuron degenerative disorder without curative treatment. My objectives include identifying intrinsic defects in ALS motor neurons, comparing different ALS forms to find common and divergent phenotypes, and exploring the roles of macrophages and microglia in ALS motor neuron degeneration, as neuroinflammation is a pathology observed in all ALS patients. Additionally, I am involved in collaborative projects on protein aggregate propagation, liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), and testing neuroprotective compounds, supported by ANR and FRM grants.