Adélaïde Bernard
Adélaïde did her undergraduate degree in Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Liège in Belgium. She then got her Masters in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology, with a specialization in physiology at the same university. She took part of the Erasmus Mundus program to do her master thesis research internship in the Vaisse Lab (Diabetes Center, UCSF), where she began some of the projects that made her come back to the Vaisse lab to start a PhD. She is now a PhD student in the Metabolic Biology program from UC Berkeley, that encompasses laboratories from the Nutrition and Toxicology department at UC Berkeley and the Diabetes Center at UCSF.
Her projects are centered around understanding how the Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R) controls long-term energy homeostasis. MC4R is a GPCR expressed in the brain, and mutations in MC4R are the most common cause of monogenic obesity in humans. The Vaisse lab has recently discovered that MC4R localizes to a very specific part of the cell, called the primary cilium. The primary cilium is a small and unique organelle that protrudes from the surface of most eukaryotic cells, and serves as an antenna to sense the extracellular environment. Importantly, like mutations in MC4R, mutations that lead to the disruption of the structure of this antenna in neurons also lead to obesity. Her research is geared towards understanding how MC4R ciliary localization and function control long-term energy homeostasis, and how they are impacted by physiology and by some genetic mutations. For example, one of her projects, investigates an accessory protein called MRAP2, and its implication in the transport of MC4R to the primary cilium.
Lab Super Powers (include but not limited to): rodent stereotaxic surgeries instructor, student coach, birthday celebration reminder, hypothalamic immunofluorescence imaging and editing ninja, illustrator freak, mouse love guru (murine colony management).
She founded the PhotoClub at UCSF, and outside of the lab you can find her spending time with friends, traveling, taking pictures or singing, preferably all at the same time!