Researcher

• Postdoctoral Fellow (Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), 2023.
• PhD in Molecular Biology (Université de Montréal), 2018.
• 2 years of PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology, 24 credits (University of Connecticut), 2013.
• MSc, major: Signaling and Integrated Biology (EPHE, Sorbonne Paris) (EPHE, Sorbonne Paris), 2011.
• BS, major: genome biology (École National de Chimie, Physique et Biologie, Paris), 2009.
• High school diploma, major: sciences and laboratory technologies, 2006.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogenous disease affecting approximately 1 in 54 children in North America. The causes of this neurodevelopmental disease remain poorly understood and its heterogenous nature makes it difficult to study. Although a lot of progress was made in the recent years, there is still a need to better understand what the key drivers of the pathology are. Anthony Flamier uses his expertise in stem cell technologies, CRISPR, and neural development, to develop knowledge on key drivers of ASD.  

• Stem cells
• CRISPR
• Epigenetics
• Neurosciences
• Molecular Biology

Career Summary

From 2008 to 2011, Anthony Flamier participated in the creation of the first stem cell unit of the Biopharma Sanofi, where he was in charge of finding the best pluripotency indicators by transcriptomic and epigenetic profiling. In 2011, he started to generate new hiPSC lines from patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. He worked on developing new protocols to differentiate hiPSC into functional hepatocytes to better model the disease in vitro. Then, using the aggregation of hESC and hiPSC, he conducted an assessment of the potential teratogenicity of molecules.

During his PhD in molecular biology at the University of Montreal under the supervision of Dr. Gilbert Bernier, Anthony Flamier studied the role of a polycomb protein, BMI1, on the pathogenicity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). His aim was to model AD pathology in vitro using iPSC-derived cortical neurons and demonstrate the role of BMI1 in the initiation and progression of the disease. 

In 2018, he realized a Postdoctoal Fellowship in Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch's research laboratory at the Whitehead institute of MIT in order to learn new techniques for studying neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases. Since then, he has developed new skills in gene editing, epigenetic editing, robotic, bioinformatics, and single cell sequencing. He also took part in the realization of three research projects: (1) Rescue of Fragile X-linked syndromes using epigenetic editing in neurons from patient iPSC lines; (2) Detection of cell-type specific differentially methylated genes in AD brains and hiPSC-derived neurons from the same individual; (3) Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on hiPSC- derived sensory neurons.

For the past 8 years, Anthony Flamier has continuously worked on developing new disease modeling systems (co-culture, 3D cultures, assembloids, organoids, etc.) in order to better recapitulate pathological features in vitro and address key questions.

Research Laboratory

NeuroStem Lab

Awards and Distinctions

Présentations orales :

• 2018 - Till and McCulloch stem cell network meeting – Montreal, QC
• 2016 - Annual day of molecular biology – Montreal, QC
• 2015 - FRQS Vision research network 21st annual meeting in the Retina session - Quebec, QC 2015 - Annual meeting of University of Montreal Neurosciences department
• 2014 - FRQS Vision research network 20th annual meeting in the Retina session - Montreal, QC 2014 - Annual Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital research meeting
• 2014 - Annual day of Medicinal school travel grantees - Montreal, QC
• 2013 - FRQS Vision research network 19th annual meeting in the Retina session - Montreal, QC

Affiches (sélection) :

• 2017 - ISSCR meeting – Boston
• 2013-2017 - Till and McCulloch stem cell network meeting – Canada
• 2014 - Stem Cells and reprogramming international meeting (Keystone) – Olympic Valley, CA, USA

Presentations

• Flamier A, Bisht P, Richards A, Tomasello D, Jaenisch R. Human iPS cell-derived sensory neurons can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 strain WA1/2020 as well as variants delta and omicron. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jan 10:2023.01.10.523422. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.10.523422. 
• Zhang L, Bisht P, Flamier A, Barrasa MI, Friesen M, Richards A, Hughes SH, Jaenisch R. LINE1-Mediated Reverse Transcription and Genomic Integration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Detected in Virus-Infected but Not in Viral mRNA-Transfected Cells. Viruses. 2023 Feb 25;15(3):629. doi: 10.3390/v15030629.
• Flamier A, El Hajjar J, Adjaye J, Fernandes K, Abdouh M and Bernier G. (2018) Modeling late-onset sporadic Alzheimer's disease through BMI1 deficiency. Cell Reports. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.04.097.
• Zhou S, Flamier A (co-premier auteur), Abdouh M, Tetreault N, Barabino A, Wadhwa S, and Bernier G (2015). Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into cone photoreceptors through simultaneous inhibition of BMP/TGFb/WNT signalling. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.125385.
• Flamier A, Abdouh M, Hamam R, Barabino A, Patel N, Gao A, Hanna R and Bernier G. (2019) Off- target effect of the BMI1 inhibitor PTC596 drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition in glioblastoma multiforme. Nature Precision Oncology. doi: 10.1038/s41698-019-0106-1.

Publications

• Flamier A, Bisht P, Richards A, Tomasello D, Jaenisch R. Human iPS cell-derived sensory neurons can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 strain WA1/2020 as well as variants delta and omicron. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jan 10:2023.01.10.523422. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.10.523422. 
• Zhang L, Bisht P, Flamier A, Barrasa MI, Friesen M, Richards A, Hughes SH, Jaenisch R. LINE1-Mediated Reverse Transcription and Genomic Integration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Detected in Virus-Infected but Not in Viral mRNA-Transfected Cells. Viruses. 2023 Feb 25;15(3):629. doi: 10.3390/v15030629.
• Hanna R, Flamier A, Barabino A, Bernier G. (2021) G-quadruplexes originating from evolutionary conserved L1 elements interfere with neuronal gene expression in Alzheimer's disease. Nat. Commun. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22129-9.
• Flamier A, El Hajjar J, Adjaye J, Fernandes K, Abdouh M and Bernier G. (2018) Modeling late-onset sporadic Alzheimer's disease through BMI1 deficiency. Cell Reports. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.04.097.
• Barabino A, Flamier A, Hanna R, Heon E, Freedman B and Bernier G. (2020) Deregulation of neuro- developmental genes and primary cilium cystoskeleton anomalies in iPSC retinal sheets from human syndromic ciliopathies. Stem Cell Reports. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.02.005.
• Zhou S, Flamier A (co-first author), Abdouh M, Tetreault N, Barabino A, Wadhwa S, and Bernier G (2015). Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into cone photoreceptors through simultaneous inhibition of BMP/TGFb/WNT signalling. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.125385.
• Popovic N, Hooker E, Barabino A, Flamier A, Provost F, Bernier G and Larrivee B. (2021) COCO/DAND5 inhibits developmental and pathological ocular angiogenesis. EMBO. doi: 10.15252/emmm.202012005.
• Flamier A, Abdouh M, Hamam R, Barabino A, Patel N, Gao A, Hanna R and Bernier G. (2019) Off- target effect of the BMI1 inhibitor PTC596 drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition in glioblastoma multiforme. Nature Precision Oncology. doi: 10.1038/s41698-019-0106-1.
• Abdouh M, Hanna R, Flamier A, El Hajjar J and Bernier G. (2016) The Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 Protein BMI1 is Required for Constitutive Heterochromatin Formation and Silencing in Mammalian Somatic Cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M115.662403.
• Flamier A, Singh S and Rasmussen TP. (2017) A standardized human embryoid body platform for the detection and analysis of teratogens. PlosONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171101.