Christine Baly

Christine BALY, is an INRAE senior scientist (Research Director, DR) from the PhASE (Physiologie and Systèmes d'Elevage) department, deputy director of the UR1197 NBO unit (Neurobiologie de l'Olfaction) in Jouy-en-Josas from 2015 to 2019. She has developed an expertise in the study of the genesis and modulation of the olfactory system in relation with food determinants at both mucosa and bulb levels of integration, using molecular and cellular approaches. Since then, she has joined the new INRAE UMR1198 BREED unit (Biologie de la Reproduction, Environnement, Epigénétique et Développement) to develop research on the role of epigenetics on the plasticity of the olfactory system upon environmental challenges. **Research** In 1993, she defended her PhD on the expression of the gene encoding the casein alphaS2 in goats, and identified the mechanism responsible for its genetic polymorphism. She was then recruited as a junior scientist in a INSERM-INRA unit in Paris to work on the regulation of the transcription and replication in early embryos in mice. She was the first to demonstrate a transcriptional activity in mice embryos at the one-cell stage using fluorescent imaging and she participated to the characterization of a structural DNA protein involved in the folding of active chromatin in 1-cell embryos, opening a new front in the study of the role of nuclear organization in gene expression in early embryos. In 2000, CB moved to a new INRA unit at Jouy-en-Josas that was developing a new challenging program on the biology of olfaction in rodents. She contributed to the study on the mechanisms of i) control and coding of an olfactory message by olfactory receptors, ii) odor discrimination and iii) plasticity of the olfactory system (mucosa and bulb) under the influence of various perturbations by cellular, molecular, and behavioral approaches in rodents. After having characterized the role of metabolic hormones, such as leptin and insulin, on the modulation of the olfactory signal, she developped more integrated models to understand the influence of the animal's metabolic status on the perception of odors and passed her Habilitation to Supervise Research in 2013 (HDR). Since then, she has been studying the influence of the perinatal period related to the maternal environment on the olfactory performances in the perspective of understanding the peripheral mechanisms involved, how they shape olfactory-based behaviors, and how to use this neuroplasticity to guide preferences, especially food preferences in animal models, but also in a translational perspective for agronomical purpose. CB preferentially targets the metabolic environment in various physiological situations in adulthood (fasting, states of genetic or dietary obesity, role nutrients), but she is also interested in the effect of other environmental factors on animal behavioral plasticity in order to understand how olfaction-mediated eating habits develop, to use this plasticity to shape food preferences. Currently, her priorities are focused on: -the influence of an alteration of the energy balance during pregnancy on the development of obesity in adult mice and its consequences on olfaction-mediated eating behavior -the influence of perinatal odorant exposure on the development of olfactory-based behaviors (food preferences, anxiety, memory). -the influence of maternal exposure to diesel particles on the neuronatatomical and functional regulation of the olfactory pathways. Since 2020, she has joined the new INRAE BREED UMR1198 unit in the MeCP2 team (Mécanismes épigénétiques et construction - prédiction des phénotypes) to develop a project entitled: "epigenetic programming of olfactory-based behaviors in rodents". Her challenges are to understand the molecular bases that govern the long-term effects of maternal environments on offspring's behavioral phenotypes by focusing on neuroepigenetics in rodents, with a translational perspective for improving welfare in farm animals.