Anne Ephrussi (born 15 September 1955 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

) is a French developmental and molecular

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. Her research is focused on the study of

post-transcriptional regulation Post-transcriptional regulation is the control of gene expression at the RNA level. It occurs once the RNA polymerase has been attached to the gene's promoter and is synthesizing the nucleotide sequence. Therefore, as the name indicates, it occur ...

s such as

mRNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of Protein biosynthesis, synthesizing a protein. mRNA is ...

localization and translation control in

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

as well as the establishment of polarity axes in cell and developmental biology. She is director of the EMBL International Centre for Advanced Training (EICAT) program at the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

(EMBL) since 2005 and served as head of the Developmental Biology Unit from 2007 to 2021.

Biography

Anne Ephrussi studied biology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from where she graduated in 1979. She continued to do her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) in the group of

Susumu Tonegawa is a Japanese scientist who was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for his discovery of V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism which produces antibody diversity. Although he won the Nobel Prize for his w ...

where she received her doctoral degree in 1985. Ephrussi performed postdoctoral research at

in the lab of

Thomas Maniatis Tom Maniatis (born May 8, 1943), is an American professor of molecular and cellular biology. He is a professor at Columbia University, and serves as the Scientific Director and CEO of the New York Genome Center. Education Maniatis received B.A ...

from 1986 to 1989 and at the

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Whitehead may refer to: * Whitehead (comedo), a blocked sweat/sebaceous duct of the skin * Whitehead (bird), a small species of passerine bird, endemic to New Zealand * Whitehead building, heritage listed residence of the principal of the Univer ...

with

Ruth Lehmann Ruth Lehmann is a developmental and cell biologist. She is the Director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. She previously was affiliated with the New York University School of Medicine, where she was the Director of the Skirba ...

from 1989 to 1992. Since 1992, Anne Ephrussi has been a group leader at the

(EMBL). She became the head of EMBL International Centre for Advanced Training in 2005. She served as Associate Dean (1999 - 2005) and Dean (2005 - 2008) of Graduate Studies of th
EMBL International PhD program
and as head of the developmental biology unit (2007-2021). She is part of numerous international Scientific Advisory Boards and Panels, organizes international conferences and scientific meetings and evaluates research grant and fellowship applications for a variety of renowned

funding bodies Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

Personal Details

Anne Ephrussi has French and American citizenship. She is the daughter of

Boris Ephrussi Boris Ephrussi (; 9 May 1901 – 2 May 1979), Professor of Genetics at the University of Paris, was a Russo- French geneticist. Ephrussi was born on 9 May 1901 into a Jewish family. His father, Samuel Osipovich Ephrussi, was a chemical engineer; ...

and Harriett Ephrussi-Taylor. She lives in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, is married and has one child.

Research

With her research, Anne Ephrussi has contributed to the elucidation of the crucial role that spatial and temporal control of

localization and translation play in

oocyte An oocyte (, oöcyte, or ovocyte) is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female ger ...

development and

cell polarity Cell polarity refers to spatial differences in shape, structure, and function within a cell. Almost all cell types exhibit some form of polarity, which enables them to carry out specialized functions. Classical examples of polarized cells are de ...

. Ephrussi established that oskar RNA is accumulated at and thereby defines the posterior pole of the ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' (), from Ancient Greek δρόσος (''drósos''), meaning "dew", and φίλος (''phílos''), meaning "loving", is a genus of fly, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or p ...

. Aberrant localization and

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

leads to germ cell formation defects and mispatterning during development. Proper localization of oskar mRNA is ensured by concerted actions of the

exon junction complex An exon junction complex (EJC) is a protein complex which forms on a pre-messenger RNA strand at the junction of two exons which have been joined together during RNA splicing. The EJC has major influences on translation, surveillance, localization ...

and oskar's 3’ UTR followed by a

microtubule Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nanometer, nm and have an inner diameter bet ...

-based movement. During transport, translation of oskar is repressed by the

RNA-binding protein RNA-binding proteins (often abbreviated as RBPs) are proteins that bind to the double or single stranded RNA in cell (biology), cells and participate in forming ribonucleoprotein complexes. RBPs contain various structural motifs, such as RNA reco ...

Bruno, which is in turn released by the binding of activators (e.g. Orb) upon arrival at the posterior pole. After proper localization, oskar RNA is translated and organizes

germ plasm Germ plasm () is a biological concept developed in the 19th century by the German biologist August Weismann. It states that heritable information is transmitted only by germ cells in the gonads (ovaries and testes), not by somatic cells. The ...

by recruiting other proteins such as Vasa. Her lab's current research continues to focus on spatial and temporal control of translation and which role

ribonucleoprotein Nucleoproteins are proteins conjugated with nucleic acids (either DNA or RNA). Typical nucleoproteins include ribosomes, nucleosomes and viral nucleocapsid proteins. Structures Nucleoproteins tend to be positively charged, facilitating inter ...

complexes ( RNPs),

cytoskeletal The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all Cell (biology), cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane ...

polarization and cytoskeletal motors play in RNA localization. Further, the roles of non-canonical RNA binding proteins in development as well as germ plasm assembly and function are investigated. These questions are tackled using a combination of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

and a broad spectrum of cell biological and imaging approaches using the large ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

'' oocyte as a model.

Honors and awards

* 1995 – Elected member of

EMBO Embo or EMBO may refer to: *Embo, Taguig, a grouping of barangays in Taguig, Philippines * Embo (''Star Wars''), a ''Star Wars'' fictional character *Embo S.p.A., an Italian automotive manufacturer *Embo, Sutherland, a village in Highland, Scotland ...

* 2000 – IUBMB E.C. Slater Lecture * 2008 – Elected member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

* 2010 – Elected member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

* 2011 – Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, France * 2015 – Chevalier de la

Légion d’Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, France * 2022 – Feldberg Prize * 2022 – Elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA * 2023 – Society for Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award

Editorial Boards

* Senior Editor, Editorial Board

Trends in Cell Biology ''Trends in Cell Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal by Elsevier BV. Abstracting and indexing ''Trends in Cell Biology'' is abstracted and indexed the following bibliographic databases: *Science Citation Index Expanded *Scopus Acc ...

(since 1997) * Editorial Board, Genes to Cells (since 2003) * Advisory Board, WIREs RNA (since 2009) * Editorial Board,

Cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

(since 2009) * Editorial Board,

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

(2018-2021) * Editorial Board,

Journal of Cell Biology The ''Journal of Cell Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Rockefeller University Press. History In the early 1950s, a small group of biologists began to explore intracellular anatomy using the emerging technology of e ...

(since 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ephrussi, Anne 1955 births French people of Moldovan-Jewish descent French molecular biologists French women biologists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Harvard College alumni