Stéphanie Baulac
Biographical sketch:
Dr. Stéphanie Baulac is a Research Director and Group Leader at the Institut du Cerveau (ICM) in Paris, France. She received her PhD from University Paris Cité in 2001 and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Baulac has earned numerous prestigious awards, including the 2019 Michael Prize in Epileptology and an ERC Consolidator grant. Her work has been consistently supported by major research funding, including grants from the European Research Council and the French National Research Agency. She is actively involved in epilepsy research and education, teaching neurogenetics in various international programs and mentoring numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.
The Baulac Lab is pioneering new frontiers in epilepsy research by investigating how somatic mosaicism acquired during brain development can trigger seizures through an integrated translational approach. Our research pipeline encompasses genetic analysis of resected epileptic brain tissue, functional characterization using patient-derived cortical organoids, and in utero-based mouse models. We focus on identifying novel causative genes in focal epilepsies and elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental epileptogenic processes. Through analysis of human resected tissue samples, we investigate cell-type specific determinants driving mosaic neurodevelopmental disorders. Our mechanistic insights inform the development of targeted therapeutic strategies, with the ultimate goal of establishing precision medicine approaches for patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsies.
