Clementine Eva Philibert

I am currently a Postdoctoral Associate in the laboratory of Dr. Mikel Garcia-Marcos in the Department of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine. During my Ph.D., I worked on the metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGluR2). This G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) keeps on attracting particular attention given its implication in schizophrenia, a multifactorial psychiatric disease. mGluR2 is the main target of a new generation of antipsychotics currently under clinical trial that are currently the most efficient and promising antipsychotics ever seen. However, mGluR2 signaling remain poorly characterized. During my Ph.D., I have taken advantage of a nanobody specifically targeting endogenous mGluR2. From mass spectrometry to animal behavioral test, I was able to fully decipher the first non-canonical signaling pathway of mGluR2: TrkB, a tyrosine receptor kinase that plays a key role in mediating the antipsychotics effect of the new generation of antipsychotics. My current research now in Dr. Mikel Garcia-Marcos’ lab will focus, on one hand, on generating new rationally engineered protein that will help to better understand G-protein signaling pathway and, on the other hand, characterizing the importance of a G-protein regulator in the brain.