Florence Ruggiero is Director of Research at the CNRS. She leads a a team “Matrix Biology and Pathology Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon. Since January 2016, she also serves as the Director of the IGFL. Her training background combines cell biology, molecular biology, microscopies, biochemistry and development. Her primary research interest, as a young investigator at the CNRS, was the analysis of cell-collagen interactions. For that, she developed new methods to produce recombinant full-length collagens and derived-domains in different expression systems including plants. Since then, the super family of collagens became “her family” and she has now 30 years of experience in matrix biology research. In 2003, she started to run her independent group at the Institute of Protein Chemistry and Protein (IBCP, Lyon). Since then, the analysis of collagen function in model organisms was at the core of her research. Because collagens form intricate network in tissues, predicting their function is difficult. Her main objective was to understand the diversity of collagen functions from molecules to integrative systems using cell and animal models. In parallel, from 2006 to 2010, she successively held the position of vice-director and then director of the SFR-Bioscience-Gerland (UMS3444/US8). In 2011, her team moved to the Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon (IGFL, ENSL), a new institute of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, interested in evolution, development and integrative physiology using functional genomics. During the last years, her group have explored the amazing functional diversity of collagen genes during development and analyzed possible links between defective collagen function and human diseases, using combined approaches including functional genomics, biochemistry, cell biology and integrative biology. Her lab is currently interested in unraveling the function of collagens in development, tissue regeneration and rare connective tissue disease as the classic Elhers-Danlos syndrome and neuromuscular disorders associated to collagen deficiency. Florence Ruggiero has published more than 90 publications and reviews in the Matrix Biology field. Recently, she was honored to serve as Chair for the 2017 Collagen Gordon Research Conference.

Laurent Muller got his PhD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology in 1996 at Université Paris-Orsay (France) and received further training at the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans (LA, USA) from 1996 to 1999.  He was appointed as an INSERM researcher in the Chair of Experimental Medicine at the Collège de France in Paris in 2001. He is a board member of the French Society for Angiogenesis (SFA). He has supervised 6 PhDs and co-authored 42 original research papers and 4 reviews in international scientific journals (ORCID).
His early work aimed at analyzing the processing of hormones and neuroendocrine peptides by the prohormone converting enzymes in the pituitary and by endothelin converting enzyme in the cardiovascular system. Over the last 15 years, he has shifted his research to the investigation of extracellular matrix remodeling associated with angiogenesis and microvascular integrity. His interests in this field more specifically target the establishment of the vascular basement membrane during vessel formation and the role of the cross-linking enzyme lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) in this context. For these studies, he has acquired experience in in vitro angiogenesis models and their imaging in 3D models of either hydrogels or scaffold-free cell-sheet culture.
These cell biology projects have also led to applications in a tissue engineering context. First, the development of 3D models of capillary formation led him to apply his research to characterization of the angiogenic potential of circulating progenitors or iPS-derived endothelial cells, as well as that of mesenchymal stem cells; further applications include focus on the generation of in vitro pre-vascularized tissue constructs and development of reconstructed vascularized skin. Then, he is investigating biomimetic approaches based on cross-linking enzymes for the improvement of the angiogenic properties of hydrogels of natural polymers, including tropoelastin and collagen.

Ulrich Valcourt is a full Professor in Cell Biology at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1. Since January 2021, he leads the team “Matricellular Proteins and Pathological Dysregulations” in the Laboratory of Tissue Biology and Therapeutic Engineering (LBTI) in Lyon, a research unit having a strong expertise on extracellular matrix biology and tissue repair. Using multi-scale approaches, combining cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysical methods, as well as genetically engineered mouse models, his lab is currently interested in unraveling the function of matricellular proteins in tissue homeostasis and pathological contexts. Studies primarily focus on the role of Tenascin-X in cutaneous and vascular tissue homeostasis, but also in several diseases such as in cancers and rare connective tissue disorders (classical-like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). Ulrich is the current treasurer of the French Society of Extracellular Matrix Biology.
He has a scientific background in molecular and cellular biology, with two main scientific interests during his career: TGF-β superfamily signaling and Matrix Biology. Through his PhD training in Lyon (Dr. Mallein-Gerin, IBCP) and a first post-doctoral position in Sweden (Dr. Moustakas, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research), he deciphered the signaling pathways and transcriptomic programs by which Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) and TGF-β signaling factors orchestrate developmental (chondrogenic/osteogenic differentiation) and pathological (epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer) cell responses. After a second post-doctoral experience studying the effects of collagen aging on bone fragility (Pr. Delmas, U403 INSERM, Lyon), he obtained an Associate Professor position at the University of Lyon and joined the team of Dr. Lethias (IBCP, Lyon) to explore the cellular functions of Tenascin-X. He then moved to the group of Dr. Bartholin in the Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL), where he notably analyzed the extracellular regulation of the TGF-β bioavailability and signaling by matricellular proteins. He finally moved to his current research unit in 2018 as a full Professor. Ulrich Valcourt has published more than 30 articles and reviews with a primary focus on TGF-β and Matrix Biology fields.

Patricia ALBANESE is Professor of Cell Biology (CNU 65th section) at the University Paris Est Creteil (UPEC), in the Gly-CRRET laboratory. She joins Gly-CRRET Lab in 2005 as a Stem Cell biologist and discovers the “GAG world” from the Matrix. Since, she has been developing her research field on the Glycobiology of Stem Cells for Tissular Engineering, at the interface between sugar chemistry, molecular and cellular biology. This research topic is based on specific skills to purify Glycosaminoglycans (GAG) chains from proteoglycans and to characterize their structural and functional modifications. She is interested on degenerative pathologies associated to aging, strong extracellular matrix remodeling and inflammatory responses.
Until recently she was studying repairing processes in different tissues such as bone marrow, skeletal and cardiac muscles, lung, vascular system, and bone. She has demonstrated the impact of GAG structural modifications, such as sulfations of Heparan Sulfates (HS), on different cells properties and specifically on hematopoietic, endothelial and mesenchymal stem cells mobilization, proliferation and differentiation processes. Since a few years, she focuses on HS involvement in cartilage matrix remodelig and synovial fluid inflammatory reactions during Osteoarthritis (OA), in association with Rheumatologists clinicians from the Henri Mondor Hospital (AP-HP Creteil). These studies allow to identify matricial and cellular GAG with specific signatures, as well as GAG biosynthesis or degradation enzymes, that are involved in physiopathological responses during OA.
Her main goal is to propose new therapeutic strategies associating stem cells to matricial glycanic products, based on GAG mimetics or GAG enzyme antagonists. In this purpose, she coordinates scientific projects, in collaboration with clinicians, academic researchers and industrial partners (ANR GAG-like, CNRS GDR, Société Francaise de Rhumatologie, Fondation Arthritis, Fondation Arthrose, IBSA company, Regenlab company…). All the skills are developped on a glycomic technological platform (https://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/spip/crret/-Analyse-de-GAGs-GLYCO-mix-) and shared between different teams of the Gly-CRRET lab : Pr. Dulce PAPY-GARCIA, working on Alzheimer Disease, and Dr. Guillermo BARETTO, working on Lung Fibrosis and Epigenetic.
Furthermore, she is the head of the Biology Department of the UPEC Sciences and Technological Faculty since 2018. She has been leading the “BIOMICS” Master Formation of the UPEC since 2016, based on Omics technologies applied to Integrative Biology on Health and Environment, labelized by the “Pole de competitivité Medicen de la Region Ile de France”. Patricia Albanese has published 30 articles on Stem Cells and GAG fields.

Stéphane Brézillon is director of research (DR2 CNRS) in France where he leads with Prof. S. Dedieu the “ExtraCellular Matrix, Cancer and Therapeutic Targets” Team of the Research Unit MEDyC URCA/CNRS UMR 7369 in Reims.
Our unit is the leader in France for investigating the matrikines which are biological active fragments from major components of the extracellular matrix, collagen, elastin and proteoglycans. These matrikines are essentially studied in tumoral and vascular pathologies. Our team is focusing on LRP-1-mediated endocytosis and extracellular vesicles mediated cell communication between tumor cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts.
Stéphane Brézillon has obtained his Joint PhD in 1997 at Reims (Dr E. Puchelle (INSERM U514, University of Medicine, Reims, France) and at Hannover (Pr  B. Tümmler (Klinische Forschergruppe, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany). After a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Prof G. Cramb (Saint Andrews, Scotland, UK), he became project leader in a biotechnology company, Euroscreen, Brussels, Belgium (1999-2004). Then, he moved to Reims in 2004 in the CNRS unit of Prof. François-Xavier Maquart to set up a group with Dr Y. Wegrowski studying the mechanisms of action of Lumican, a Small Leucine Rich Proteoglycan, able to inhibit melanoma progression. Using integrative technologies from Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Spectral Imaging, in vivo murine models (WT and lumican deleted mice) and in silico approaches (developed in collaboration with Pr. Manuel Dauchez’s group, UMR CNRS 7369), he extensively studied the signaling pathways, the mechanisms of action, and the modeling of Lumican with its receptors. He is developing a strong collaboration with Prof. Karamanos (University of Patras, Greece) and Prof. M. Gotte (University of Munster, Germany) and he belongs to the H2020 GLYCANC consortium and more recently to the IRN CeSMeR.
Stéphane Brézillon has published more than 57 articles with a focus on lumican mechanism of action and its interaction with alpha2beta1 integrin and MMP-14.

Laure Gibot (ORCID, HAL) graduated as engineer in 2007 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie (ENSA) in Rennes (France), and obtained her PhD in 2010 in molecular and cell biology at Laval University (Quebec, Canada). During her PhD she specialized in human skin tissue engineering in the Laboratoire d’organogenèse expérimentale (LOEX). Back to France she developed 3D tissue models, particularly tumour spheroids, as tools to study drug delivery by electroporation at tissue scale. In 2006 she was recruited as associate researcher at CNRS in Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology (IPBS) Lab in Toulouse. In 2018, she moved to the IMRCP lab, a chemistry laboratory dedicated to soft matter study, where she develops biological applications (mainly photodynamic therapy PDT and tissue regeneration) of chemical drug delivery using polymer nanovectors. Her current research focuses on understanding how physical/chemical stimuli used for drug delivery can modulate cellular behaviour and tissue organization, with the aim of proposing original therapeutic strategies, particularly in the context of the fight against cancer and regenerative medicine. Her research activity led to 35 peer-reviewed publications (h index 14). She was awarded local, national and international young researcher prizes and obtained several grants including a JCJC ANR dedicated to deciphering cellular mechanisms in electrostimulation of wound healing.

In 2007, Sabrina Kellouche-Gaillard obtained her PhD in Cutaneous Biology and Pharmacology from the University of Paris 7, INSERM 553 unit « Hemostasis, endothelium, angiogenesis » of Chantal Legrand. She did a first post-doctoral fellowship at Cergy-Pontoise University, in ERRMECe Lab, then a second post-doc as a University Hospital Assistant in Cellular Biology at the Faculty of Medicine of Amiens. Sabrina Kellouche was recruited at the University of Cergy Pontoise in march 2010 as associate professor in cell biology, attached to ERRMECe Lab (Extracellular Matrix-Cell Relations Research Team). She is now member of the group MEC-uP (Extracellular Matrix and Physiopathology) of the ERRMECe lab.
Her research fields focus on the cell relation with complex microenvironments using Cellular & molecular approaches. Understanding the cell-ECM interactions likely to be involved in physiological (tissue repair) or pathological (tumor dissemination, fibrosis) processes is at the heart of her research concerns. Indeed, she was able to study the mechanisms involved during these processes and their regulation by the matrix microenvironment (extracellular matrix proteins, growth factors, etc.) which influence interactions between cells, their behavior (proliferation, migration…) and their fate (differentiation, apoptosis…). Over the past few years, she has been able to acquire solid experience, particularly in the development and reconstitution of microenvironment models which involve molecules of the extracellular- matrix: 3D cell cultures (fibrin matrix, collagen-GAG-Chitosan matrix), co -cultures of different cell types, development of culture in suspension (tumor spheroids), development of in vitro forensic models of biological traces in criminalistic concerns…The characterization of the matrix microenvironment and its regulating impact on cellular activities stay at the center of her research. Sabrina Kellouche-Gaillard has published 20 articles, she supervised 3 PhD and is also the co-director of the Master’s degree called BioC2M “Cellular and Molecular Biology of the Microenvironment”.

Carine Le Goff is a senior scientist at INSERM in France in the laboratory for vascular translational science where she leads a group focusing on molecular bases and physiopathology of HTAA (hereditary thoracic aortic aneurysms) at the UMR 1148 INSERM in Paris. The first objective of her research group is to identify new genes involved in HTAA and second one is to understand the pathogenic mechanism underlying the HTAA. My main project is centered on the understanding of the role of ECM proteins and more precisely ADAMTS, fibrillin-1  in HTAA using cellular and mouse models.
Carine obtained her PhD in 2001 at the Orsay university. Her three-year post-doctoral fellowship on ADAMTS proteins in the laboratory of Dr Suneel Apte (Cleveland clinic foundation, Lerner research insititute, USA), led her to develop her interest in ECM and on rare disorders.  She continued to study the ADAMTS in rare  skeletal disorders during a second post-doctoral fellowship at Necker Hospital. She was recruited in 2009  in Cormier-Daire’s lab (Paris) to work on acromelic dysplasia/ADAMTS/FBN1. Then this lab moved in Imagine institute, UMR1163 in 2014. Recently, in 2017, Carine joined the Boileau/Jondeau’s lab at Bichat hospital. Carine has published more than 40 articles in renowned international journals.

Pascal MAURICE is senior scientist at CNRS and joined the MEDyC Research Unit (UMR CNRS/URCA 7369) at Reims in 2011 in the « Matrix Aging and Vascular Remodeling » team led by Pr Laurent Duca & Dr Stephane Jaisson. He works on the role played by the elastin-derived peptides and the elastin receptor complex (ERC) in vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Using cell and molecular biology technologies together with structural biophysics and computational approaches, he is mostly interested in the membrane topology and membrane interactome of the neuraminidase-1, the catalytic subunit of the ERC, and in its biological functions. He obtained a PhD in the field of vascular biology and haemostasis in 2005 from Paris VII-Denis Diderot University (Paris, France). During his PhD, he studied the role of an octapeptide sequence from type III collagen and its membrane receptor in platelet adhesion and signaling, and in animal models of thrombosis. He then performed a five-years post-doctoral training at Cochin Institute (Paris, France) in the lab of Dr Ralf Jockers where he developed proteomics approaches dedicated the purification and identification of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR)-associated proteins complexes, and discovered the existence of an asymmetrical coupling between GPCR dimers and Regulator of G protein Signaling (RGS) proteins. He also performed a 1-year post-doctoral training at the Montreal Heart Institute (Montreal, Canada) in the lab of Pr Pierre Théroux in the field of coronary artery diseases and plasma biomarkers. To date, Pascal Maurice has published more than 50 original papers, reviews and book chapters in internationally renowned journals.

Emeline Perrier-Groult is senior scientist at CNRS in France and recently joined the “Adult mesenchymal stem cell : tissue homeostasis and regeneration” team at the INSERM UMR1183 (IRMB Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy) in Montpellier. The aim of IRMB is to facilitate the transfer of research on stem cell biology to clinical applications in coordination with clinical specialists in chronic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lung disease, liver disease, neurodegenerative disease, ageing, rare genetic diseases, autoinflammatory disorders,  diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders). More precisely, Emeline works in the “Tissue Engineering & Extracellular Vesicles applied to Rheumatic Diseases” group leads by Dr. Danièle Noël. This group aim at better understanding osteo-articular diseases using relevant in vitro models based on organoid formation and 3D bioprinting approaches. This should allow to develop innovative therapeutic strategies for cartilage repair to restore joint function. Organoids and joint-on-chip technologies should feature a complex joint environment to get the proper structural organization required for both cartilage and sub-chondral bone formation. The optimized combinations of biomaterials, cells, bioactive factors are tested in vitro and in vivo to evaluate the potential of cartilage and bone formation by mesenchymal stromal cells for tissue engineering applications. New-generation biomaterials are generated in collaboration with chemists and close interactions with biomecanicians for biomechanical stimulation and characterization of neotissues. Joint-on-chips and organoids will be used to develop models mimicking the inflammatory or degenerative context of rheumatic diseases and evaluate cellular or pharmalogical treatments.
Emeline obtained her PhD in 2004 at Montpellier (INSERM U637, Pr. Sylvain Richard) and Geneva (Laboratory of endocrinology and diabetology at the Cantonal University Hospital of Geneva, Pr. Michel Rossier). After a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in the cardiovascular division of the Research Institute Servier (Suresnes, France), she joined the CNRS group of Dr. Frédéric Mallein-Gerin (Biologie et Ingénierie du Cartilage, IBCP) in Lyon where she was recruited in 2009 to work on the influence of three-dimensional architecture and various biomaterials on the phenotype of chondrocytes. Then, in 2021, she moved to INSERM UMR1183 to develop articular organoids from MSCs or MSCs derived from iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) and to evaluate the impact of different physical and/or biological stimuli on the development of osteoarticular pathologies. Emeline has published more than 30 papers in renowned international journals.

I am a doctoral student at the Gly-CRRET laboratory located at the University of Paris Est Créteil (UPEC), under the supervision of Pr. Dulce Papy-Garcia and Dr. Idir Ouidja. This laboratory focuses on the study of Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in different  pathological contexts associated to aging processes (Arthrosis and Alzheimer’s disease – AD). I joined the team working on AD, and we focus on heparan sulfate (HS), which are highly sulfated GAGs, and more specifically on HS with a specific pattern of 3-O-sulfation . My laboratory has shown that the HS3ST2 enzyme is a key player in the mechanisms leading to abnormal tau phosphorylation in AD associated with tauopathy. My PhD research project aims to study the mechanisms that regulate the HS3ST2 enzyme expression under physiological conditions and to characterize the physiological role of its product,: 3-O-sulfated heparan sulfate (3SHS), in the hippocampus, region of the brain known to be vulnerable in AD.

Patricia Rousselle is research director at CNRS in France where she leads a lab in the Tissue Biology and Therapeutic Engineering Department of the Institute of Protein Biology and Chemistry in Lyon. This department is one of the major centres in France specialising in the extracellular matrix and tissue repair field of research. Developing both biochemical and cell biology approaches, her group is interested in analysing the behaviour of keratinocytes during the reepithelialisation phase of wound repair and their interaction with extracellular matrix components. Besides, she develops translational research through collaborations with clinicians of the Lyon Burn Centre and industrial partners. Patricia is the present president of the French Matrix Society and is also a board member of the European Tissue Repair Society. Patricia obtained a doctorate in Pharmacy in 1988 and pursued a four-year residency in clinical biology at Lyon Hospitals, where she also gained an MSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 1990. Being interested in adhesion mechanisms of the epidermis, she started a PhD program with Prof Bob Burgeson at the Shriners Hospital For Crippled Children in Portland, USA, where she discovered the important dermal epidermal junction protein laminin 332. She thereafter joined the Cutaneous Biology Research Center in Boston, USA, to work on basement membrane biology, before she joined CNRS to set up her own group in 1995. Patricia Rousselle has published more than 90 articles on extracellular matrix proteins with a focus on laminins and proteoglycans, in internationally renowned journals. Dr. Rousselle’s special research interests include the role of basement membrane components and cell receptors, such as syndecans, in epithelial homeostasis and repair.