Adrien Grimont

PhD student

De Duve Institut

Brussels, Belgium

Before starting my PhD in Brussels, I obtained a bachelor's degree in Biology, and then a Master's degree on "Biomolecules and Experimental Therapies" at the University of Paris XIII. During the master training I stayed for an internship at the Institut des Cordeliers, a biomedical research institute in Paris, where I worked on kidney biology. During a second internship, at the Institut Cochin, I worked on chronic myeloid leukemia.

Summary of the thesis project: Role of the transcription factors HNF6 and Sox9 in pancreatic acinar-to-ductal metaplasia

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the fourth cause of death associated with cancer in the world. This cancer is initiated at the cellular level by lesions called acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM) in which the acinar cell type of the pancreas is converted to pancreatic duct cells. We hypothesized that two ductal transcription factors, HNF6 and Sox9, are implicated in ADM. To test this idea, we are using different mouse models of ADM in which we downregulate or upregulate the expression of HNF6 or Sox9. If HNF6 and Sox9 are involved in the development of ADM, they will appear as potential targets for preventing the development of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.