UMR CNRS/URCA 7369 – MEDyC

Extracellular Matrix and Cellular Dynamics

Welcome to the MEDyC website.

The UMR CNRS 7369 MEDyC is widely recognized in the field of extracellular matrix (ECM) biology with many national and international collaborators at the academic and industrial level.

The MEDyC research project is interdisciplinary and aims at developing original approaches and methodologies at the interface between physics, biology and bioinformatics, to decipher the molecular mechanisms supporting cell-ECM interactions. MEDyC identifies new pharmacological targets and molecules of high therapeutic potential (anti-tumor matrikines, anti-aging molecules) for a ECM-targeted pharmacology as well as new tools for diagnosis and prognosis.

The MEDyC scientific project is centered on a post-genomic approach of cell-ECM interactions with a particular focus on the mechanisms contributing to the modulation of tumor progression, and to ECM aging, a "niche" for the development of vascular degenerative diseases.

In the field of tumor progression, MEDyC focuses on the role of ECM remodeling by proteolytic enzymes. Indeed, ECM remodeling is a critical step for the invasion by cancer cells of tumor-surrounding tissues. Moreover, ECM remodeling generates the release of peptides called matrikines, which regulate a myriad of functions of both tumor and stromal cells and create a real extracellular "signalome". Using several in vitro and in vivo models, MEDyC investigates the mechanisms involved in such phenomena and their implication in the control of tumor progression.

In the field of aging, MEDyC is interested on ECM aging of large vessels, with a particular focus on non-enzymatic post-translational modifications of matrix proteins (glycoxidation and carbamylation) occurring in some pathophysiological contexts such as diabetes mellitus or chronic kidney disease, and on matrix proteolysis leading to elastin fragmentation, release of matrikines, and development of functional disorders (vascular stiffness, calcifications, atherosclerosis and thrombosis). Using different in vitro and in vivo models, MEDyC characterizes the mechanisms involved in age-related vascular remodeling and associated pathologies.

For these studies, MEDyC emphasizes original approaches from bioinformatics (homology modeling, molecular dynamics, molecular docking and molecular interactions) and virtualization to experimental studies (molecular spectroscopy) in order to propose suitable solutions and tools for exploration of complex systems at different scales.

MEDyC has also access to high-level technological platforms (Romeo supercomputer (PIA 1 equip@meso GENCI), multi-scale molecular modeling platform (PIA 1 RENABI-IFB), small animal imaging platform (PPF), cellular and tissue imaging platform (IBISA label)) allowing a scientific environment of high quality.

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