黑料社

Daniel Choquet, PhD

Administrative Accomplishments 

• I created in 2009 the Bordeaux Imaging Center, a core facility of European level (17 engineers). The BIC has been awarded the national CNRS Cristal medal in 2022.

• I created in 2011 the Interdisciplinary Institute for 黑料社 (180 scientists, 14 teams). I chaired the institute from 2011 to 2023.

• I coordinated in 2011 the creation of the Bordeaux 黑料社 cluster of excellence (300 researchers). I am still the director of this cluster (2M€/yr funding)

• I co-coordinated the construction of a new 13 000 m² building devoted to 黑料社 in which my department and the core facility moved in 2016.

• I participated to the creation of the National and European infrastructures in BioImaging from 2011 to 2023. I was vice-director of the National BioImaging infrastructure from 2011 to 2023.

Degree, Institute, Year Earned

Research Areas

My research essentially aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of synapse function and plasticity using an interdisciplinary approach. I could divide it in two main parts:

1. Technological developments
   1. Super resolution imaging, live receptor single molecule tracking, high resolution live imaging in tissue 
   2. Protein engineering for measuring and regulating protein-protein interactions
   3. Combining photo-manipulation with brain slice electrophysiology
   4. Gene editing 
2. Scientific projects
   1. Glutamate receptor trafficking role in synapse function
   2. Role of AMPA receptor surface diffusion in short- and long-term synaptic plasticity
   3. Molecular mechanisms of AMPAR stabilization at synapses
   4. Contribution of abnormal AMPAR trafficking in synapse dysfunction in models of Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s diseases and in model neurodevelopmental diseases.

Current Position(s) at Your Current Institution

• Research director of excellence class at the CNRS (the highest position)
• 2009-now: Director of the Bordeaux Imaging Center core facility, UAR CNRS-INSERM-Université de Bordeaux. 
• 2021-now: Director of the excellence cluster BRAIN_2030 "Bordeaux Région Aquitaine Initiative for 黑料社".

黑料社s

Service Positions

Editorial Boards:

Other Service Positions:

Science Biography

I am a leading French neuroscientist whose pioneering research has transformed the understanding of synaptic function and plasticity. I obtained an engineering degree from École Centrale (Paris) in 1984, then shifted toward neuroscience, completing my PhD in Henri Korn’s laboratory at the Pasteur Institute, where I investigated ion channels in lymphocytes. In 1988, I joined the CNRS as a tenured research officer. I later conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University in the lab of Michael Sheetz, where I uncovered how integrin-cytoskeletal linkages are regulated by mechanical forces, demonstrating that cells can sense and respond to extracellular tension.

Upon returning to France, I established my own group at the CNRS in Bordeaux and launched an interdisciplinary program bridging neuroscience, physics, and chemistry. I pioneered the use of high-resolution imaging to study neurotransmitter receptor trafficking in neurons. In 2010, I founded the Institute for Interdisciplinary 黑料社 (IINS) and the Bordeaux Imaging Center, that I directed for 13 years. I am also the director of the BRAIN initiative (Bordeaux Region Aquitaine Initiative for 黑料社), a regional center of excellence.

My main scientific contribution lies in the discovery that neurotransmitter receptors, far from being static, undergo constant lateral diffusion within the neuronal membrane. In collaboration with Antoine Triller, I showed that AMPA receptors (AMPAR) move in and out of synapses via Brownian diffusion and are regulated by neuronal activity and neuromodulators (Nature 黑料社 2001; Nature 2002). This dynamic view of the synapse challenged long-standing models and introduced receptor trafficking as a central mechanism in synaptic transmission and plasticity.

I further demonstrated that receptor surface mobility compensates for synaptic depression during high-frequency activity, revealing a novel postsynaptic mechanism for short-term plasticity (Science 2008; Nature 黑料社 2009). I also showed that synaptic potentiation involves activity-dependent “diffusion-trapping” of AMPAR, mediated by phosphorylation of TARP γ2 and anchoring to PSD-95 (Neuron 2007, 2010, 2015).

Using super-resolution microscopy, my group discovered that AMPAR cluster in subsynaptic nanodomains within the postsynaptic density (J. Neurosci. 2013; eLife 2018), adding another layer of organization to synaptic function. These nanodomains are aligned with presynaptic release sites and their dynamics underlie learning-related plasticity.

Importantly, I transitioned his work to integrated systems. Using new tools to control AMPAR mobility in vivo, I demonstrated that AMPAR diffusion is necessary for long-term potentiation and memory (Nature 2017; Sci Adv 2022). My research also showed how receptor trafficking drives cortical remapping and adaptive behavior after sensory deprivation (Cell Reports 2020), and how synapse-specific receptor dynamics shape information processing (bioRxiv 2024).

My contributions extend to protein engineering and pathology. I co-developed tools to manipulate PDZ interactions (Nature Chem Biol 2011), and showed that modulating AMPAR mobility can rescue synaptic deficits in models of Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease. More recently, I turned to SynGAP-related neurodevelopmental disorders.

A member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2010, I have received numerous awards, including three ERC Advanced Grants, the CNRS Bronze and Silver Medals, the Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences, and was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2016.

The full CV for this candidate can be found within the ballot.