Frederic Michon

Frederic Michon is a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Helsinki, Finland. He received his PhD from the University of Grenoble I, France.

Dr. Michon is a classical developmental biologist, who is focusing on how to recapitulate in and ex vivo the cellular and molecular events occurring during organogenesis. This approach could have a tremendous influence on regenerative medicine. Currently, his lab is studying several aspects of stem cell biology and cell fate maintenance. Among the questions he is trying to find answers to, there are:

1. How does the stem cell signature emerge during embryogenesis?

2. Are stem cell and terminally differentiated cell capacities restricted by their microenvironment?

3. Can cells change fate upon an increase of plasticity, or a decrease of the microenvironment control?

4. Is the control from the surrounding decreasing with age, leading to a drastic modification of stem cell behavior?