Charles Durand received his PhD in Developmental Biology from theUniversity Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC, Paris). He did his PhD in thelaboratory of Prof. Jacques Charlemagne where he studied the development ofthe immune system in the amphibian embryo. He did his postdoctoral trainingin the laboratory of Prof. Elaine Dzierzak (Erasmus Medical Center, TheNetherlands) where he analyzed the molecular identity and cellular complexityof theAGM (Aorta-Gonads-Mesonephros) hematopoietic microenvironmentin the mouse embryo. Since 2005, he became Associate Professor at UPMCin the laboratory of Dr. Thierry Jaffredo. His main research interests are theidentification of the molecular mechanisms involved in the cross-talk betweenhematopoietic stem cells and stromal cells. He is the chairperson of the MScStem Cell Biology at UPMC.Pierre Charbord is an emeritus Inserm scientist. After his training as MD,he has joined the French National Health Institute (Inserm) in 1979 and sincethat date has conducted research on both hematopoietic and mesenchymalstem cells, investigating their differentiation potentials, the niche formationand their potential implication in human diseases such as cancer. He has beenvisiting scientist in Seattle from 1983 to 1986, where he has collaboratedwith Jack W Singer, studying the generation of stem cells in long-term bonemarrow cultures. In 2000 and 2001, he has been visiting scientist in Princetonwhere he has collaborated with Kateri Moore and Ihor Lemischka, studyingthe transcriptome of fetal liver stromal cells. He has contributed to more that120 original publications and to several book chapters.
