Current Position:
Junior group leader
Institution:
Université Paris Descartes – INSERM U1151, Institut Necker Enfants Malades (Previously at Columbia University)
Discipline:
Developmental Biology
Recognized for: Linking together bone biology, neuroscience and reproductive endocrinology.
Areas of Research Interest and Expertise: Integrative physiology, neurobiology, molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology
Biography:
Dr. Oury has explored the novel endocrine functions of the bone. First, he found that hormones released by bone cells in mice could regulate testosterone production in the testes. This research could lead to potential new treatments for these disorders as well as prostate cancer in humans. Second, he demonstrated a dialogue between bone and brain that occurs at several key stages of life that affect fetal brain development and brain behavioral functions in adults. Through his work, Franck Oury has been able to link together bone biology, neuroscience and reproductive endocrinology.
Franck Oury was a recipient of the Long-Term Fellow award of the Human Frontier Science Program. The HFSP is an international program of research support, funding frontier research on the complex mechanisms of living organisms. His 2013 paper in Cell, "Maternal and offspring pools of osteocalcin influence brain development and functions," is featured on their website.
He has recently joined the Institut Necker Enfants Malades in Paris (France) as a junior group leader. Using the skeleton as an organ model, the main focus of his laboratory is now to study how peripheral organs and hormonal signals may influence brain development and functions, and may contribute to age associated diseases. Exploring this notion, he is using an interdisciplinary approach that combines cellular and molecular methodologies, behavioral analyses, morphological, neuropharmacological, and collaborative translational studies.
"We are exploring the biological and molecular mode(s) of actions of the bone-derived hormone, osteocalcin, in the regulation of brain development and functions. This project is translational in essence and it will determine whether osteocalcin could eventually be used as a biological agent to influence adult neurogenesis and potentially treat cognitive impairments. We will explore all facets of this unexpected bone-brain crosstalk that opens a new field of bone biology and may ultimately lead to important therapeutic implications."
Key Publications:
Other Honors:
2014 Rupert Timpl Award - International Society for Matrix Biology
2014 Human frontiers Science Program - Career Developmental Award (CDA)
2013 Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale - Amorcage Jeune equipe Program
2009 ASBMR Young Investigator award
2008 Human frontiers Science Program long-term fellowship awards
2008 EMBO long-term fellowship awards
2007 Foundation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) fellowship awards
2007 Bettencourt-Schueller Fondation Young investigator award
2007 Philippe Fondation Young investigator award
ULP Universty - Ph.D awards 2006, Strasbourg, FRANCE, 2006
ARC Doctoral fellowship, 2004-2006
2002 CROUS-DEA University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, Scholarship Master degree