Marie-Hélène Verlhac

In 1988, Verlhac began her studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon.^[4] She graduated from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) with a Master in Cellular and Developmental Biology in 1991, followed by a PhD in cellular and molecular biology in 1995, under the supervision of Dr. Bernard Maro.^[1][4] Her PhD studies also included a year studying under Prof. Hugh Clarke at McGill University.^[4] She undertook postdoctoral studies with Rik Derynck at the University of California, San Francisco.^[1][4][5]

Verlhac returned to France and became a principal investigator of her own lab in 2002, which researches oocyte mechanics and morphogenesis.^[1] Oocytes, the female gametes, divide asymmetrically so that maternal stores can be preserved for the embryo's development; Verlhac's lab uses genetics, two-hybrid screening, and live imaging combined with biophysics to study such divisions.^[6] In particular, her lab has discovered the mechanisms underlying the positioning of the nucleus and spindle in oocytes.^[5]

Verlhac was appointed deputy director of the CIRB in 2013, and then Director in 2019.^[7]

• The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium's Albert Brachet Prize for embryology (2018)^[1]
• Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) (2018)^[6]
• CNRS Silver Medal (2021)^[8]