Laetitia Merle

Associate Professor, University of Burgundy Europe

PhD in  Neuroscience

My research project in the CSGA aims at understanding brain circuits involved in the control of feeding behaviour and their modulations in pathological conditions. More specifically, I am interested in the vulnerability to obesity induced by maternal diet, and in the relationships between food intake and neurodegenerative diseases. Using rodents as an animal model, I aim at identifying levers for potential action on metabolic diseases prevention and on neurodegenerative diseases prevention and care.

As a teacher, I am involved in the Bachelor’s degree “Life Sciences” and in the Master’s degree “Health Biology” of the Faculty of Life and Earth Sciences, Environment at the University of Burgundy. I teach in two disciplinary fields: neurosciences and animal biology. More specifically, I teach about the history of neurosciences, sensory perceptions integration, functional neuroanatomy, neuroendocrinology and neurosignalling; and about the diversity of animals.

Neuroscience, feeding behaviour, animal model, neurodegenerative diseases, maternal diet

Merle L, Person O, Bonnet P, Grégoire S, Soubeyre S, Grosmaitre X, Jarriault D. Maternal high fat high sugar diet disrupts olfactory behavior but not mucosa sensitivity in the offspring. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2019, 104, 249-258. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02619770

Bubak AN, Merle L, Niemeyer CS, Baxter BD, Gentile Polese A, Ramakrishnan V, Gomez J, Madrigal L, Villegas-Lanau A, Lopera F, Macklin W, Frietze S, Nagel MA, Restrepo D. Signatures for viral infection and inflammation in the proximal olfactory system in familial Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 2023, 123, 75-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.12.004