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An interview with Meryem Baghdadi, winner of The French Society for Cell Biology (SBCF) Young Researcher Prize 2024

2025; Wiley; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/boc.202400159

1768-322X

Meryem B. Baghdadi, Paul Trevorrow,

Cancer Cells and Metastasis

Meryem B. Baghdadi is a researcher in the field of stem cell biology and development and has made significant contributions to the understanding of stem cell niches and their regulation in both homeostasis and disease contexts. Meryem's academic journey began at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), where she earned a Master's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology, majoring in Stem Cell Biology. This was followed by a PhD in Stem Cells and Development at UPMC. Meryem's research career is marked by several notable positions. Starting in October 2022, she has been serving as a Research Associate at the Institut Curie in Paris, focusing on the study of the intestinal stem cell niche in homeostasis and colorectal cancer. Prior to this, Meryem was a Postdoctoral researcher at the same institute, investigating the role of PIEZO mechanosensitive channels in intestinal stem cell niche regulation from September 2021 to September 2022. From 2018 to 2021, Meryem worked at SickKids in Toronto, Canada, exploring the role of enteric glial cells in stem cell niche regulation. In January 2025, Meryem will begin a new role as a Junior Group Leader at the Institut Necker Enfant Malades in Paris, where she will lead a team studying the regulation of the intestinal stem cell niche in development and disease. Meryem has an impressive list of publications, including co-corresponding author papers in prestigious journals such as Science, Cell Stem Cell, and Nature. Her work has been recognized with several awards, including (this award) the Young Researcher Prize from the French Society of Cell Biology in 2024 and the Young Rising Talent France award from the Fondation L'Oréal-UNESCO in 2022. In addition to their research, Meryem has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring teaching Master's classes at the University of Paris and has supervised and mentored numerous undergraduate students. What was your reaction when you won the prize? I felt extremely happy. This was my third time applying. It is a very prestigious and highly competitive prize. I was overjoyed to finally win it. It is also special because the award is given by peers and experts who truly understand the work I am doing. It's not just a general audience recognizing my achievements, but specialists who know the specifics and details of my research. I felt incredibly proud that my work was acknowledged by such esteemed experts. This prize holds a very special place in my heart. Can you tell me a little bit about your research? I work on intestinal stem cells, which are fascinating because they can regenerate the intestine. The epithelial tissue renews every 3 to 4 days, demonstrating a very rapid process. Additionally, these cells can repair the intestine when it is injured. The work for which I received the award focuses on homeostasis, particularly how stem cells interact with their physical and mechanical environment, how they sense various physical properties of their microenvironment, and how this affects their behavior—such as their capacity to divide, differentiate, and self-renew. This research, which earned me the award, just got published in Science. I'm also opening my own lab in few months, having secured a group leader position at Institut Necker Enfants Malades (INEM). I will continue to explore how the physical environment affects stem cells, but this time focusing on development and disease. Specifically, I am looking at two diseases: cancer, for which I have preliminary data suggesting that an inability of stem cells to sense their physical environment can lead to tumorigenesis, and necrotizing enterocolitis, an inflammatory disease that affects preterm children. This new phase of my research will address both an inflammatory disease and cancer while still tying back to what I love most—development. How did you get into cell biology research? I am originally a developmental biologist. I began my journey with undergraduate studies in biology, and during my PhD at Institut Pasteur (2013–2017), I was part of a lab where half of the team focused on development and the other half on adult stem cells. This environment allowed me to gradually transition into stem cell biology. To be honest, I find stem cells absolutely fascinating. I like to think of them as superheroes because of their incredible ability to regenerate a whole epithelium, which makes them crucial to our biology. What also fascinates me is how we lose our regenerative capacity as we age, and how this varies across species. Babies, for example, can regenerate tissues more efficiently than adults. My curiosity about these processes led me to focus on stem cells extensively. I am particularly interested in how stem cells interact with their niche and how this interaction influences their behavior. Understanding the signaling pathways and mechanisms inside the cell is very important to me. My work is driven by a desire to uncover the inner workings of cells—how they modify themselves and respond to their environment. In summary, my journey began with developmental biology and gradually shifted to stem cell research. Once I discovered how fascinating stem cells are, I could not imagine working on anything else. What have been the highlights of your career so far? I think the highlights of my career are linked to moments of failure and resilience. For example, during my master's degree, I had to change labs halfway through the year because the initial lab environment wasn't healthy for me. This was a tough decision, but it led me to join Shahragim Tajbakhsh lab at Institut Pasteur. Shahragim, known for being highly demanding, didn't have any students at the time. This opened up an opportunity for me to secure a PhD position in his lab. Another pivotal moment came after my postdoc in Canada in Tae-Hee Kim lab. During the pandemic, personal reasons forced me to return to France. It was a difficult time, but I managed to join Danijela Vignjevic lab, even though she wasn't initially looking for a postdoc. I also had to convince both Tae-Hee and Danijela to allow me to continue my project in France.Tae-Hee had to trust me with the data generated in his lab, and Danijela supported me throughout the transition. These challenging moments, where I had to make unusual decisions, ultimately shaped my career. Meeting Danijela and learning about mechanobiology was transformative. She encouraged me to become a group leader, even when I doubted myself, and supported me when I got pregnant, reassuring me that I could still achieve my goals. In summary, the turning points in my career often came from overcoming significant challenges and making bold decisions. These experiences, though difficult, have ultimately made my career beautiful and fulfilling. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.