Sigolène MEILHAC

The Imagine-Institut Pasteur unit of Heart Morphogenesis aims to uncover embryological mechanisms generating the three dimensional shape of the heart and to assess the impact for human diseases. We study how cells are patterned and how coordinated cell behaviour generates 3D tissue deformations to shape the organ.



We address these questions using cutting-edge technologies in genetics, omics, 3D imaging, quantitative analyses of complex data and computer simulations. Our study meets novel challenges requiring interdisciplinary efforts in collaboration with computational scientists and clinicians, to quantify biological processes or examine the clinical impact of fundamental knowledge. In the last years, we have developed several tools to image, simulate and quantify heart development and malformation in 3D. Our work in the mouse provides conceptual advances in developmental biology, as well as novel perspectives in pediatric cardiology.