Scientific Seminar

Adrien Franchet will start his talk at 11:30 am in the conference room.

Adrien is an Assistant Professor in the PERSING team since the 1st of Septembre, 2025.

His research focuses on the role of Drosophila amino-acid transporters in the interaction between glial-cells and neurons in relation to feeding and olfaction.

Starting at 11 a.m., the speaker and staff will meet for tea/coffee and pastries.

An intercellular metabolic relay between glial and neural stem cells allow brain sparing in Drosophila

A central research focus in Alex Gould’s lab (Francis Crick Institute), where Adrien did his postdoc, is to investigate the mechanisms underlying a survival strategy known as brain sparing, which preserves brain growth during periods of nutrient limitation.

While this strategy is evolutionarily conserved from Drosophila to Mammals, the metabolic processes that support it remain poorly understood.

Using the model Drosophila melanogaster, we discovered that glutamine plays a key role in sustaining neural stem cell proliferation during brain sparing. We found that perineurial glia take up glutamine and convert it into glutamate. This glutamate is passed on to cortex glia and ultimately to neural stem cells, where it is converted back into glutamine to fuel neurogenesis. Remarkably, in the developing spared brain, this metabolic pathway mirrors the glutamate-glutamine recycling observed between neurons and astrocytes in a mature brain. 

These findings advance our understanding of metabolic adaptations during development and may provide insights into addressing growth impairments in humans and other mammals under nutritional stress.