Geneviève Almouzini

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Expert on chromatin and its DNA organizer function

Geneviève Almouzni is an Algerian microbiologist, born in 1960.

Almouzni studies the transmission of genetic information and epigenetics in the eukaryotic cell, and the potential impact of errors in the regulation of this transmission, in particular, in cancer cells. Her research provides key insights in the prevention of cancer.

The DNA of which genes are made is nothing more than a two meter long tape that stores information in a cell nucleus of a few microns. Understanding what mechanisms allow access and use of that information is the object of epigenetics. Epigenetics studies the factors of the cell's environment, the chemical reactions and other processes which can regulate and control the expression of genes without affecting their composition or sequence.

Within this field of study, Almouzni has focused on looking at the role of certain proteins in the development of tumours, in particular the role  of histones and chromatin in the control of gene activity.

From 2013 Genevieve Almouzni is director of the Curie Institute Research Centre, the first woman to occupy this position since Marie Curie and her daughter Irene Curie. She has received the EMBO Women in Science Award, and is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the French Academy of Sciences.

«La société, et les hommes en particulier, doit reconnaître que les femmes savent faire.»