Claire is a research director (DR2) at INSERM. She received her PhD in 1995 from University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. She was recruited by INSERM in 2000 after her post-doctoral studies at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She was selected for an AVENIR INSERM Junior Group Leader award in 2002 and headed a team in the Hematology Department of the Cochin Institute, Paris, France, before joining the Epigenetic and Cell Fate Unit.

Claire is an elected representative at the specialised scientific commissions of INSERM (CSS2; Genetics, Epigenetics, Cancer Research) since 2013.

Corresponding links

Université Paris-Diderot
INSERM
Institut Cochin
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Université Pierre et Marie CURIE

Selected Publications

Hubé F, Ulveling D, Sureau A, Forveille S, Francastel C. Short intron-derived ncRNAs. . Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Jan 3. pii: gkw1341. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkw1341. PMID: 28053119

Francastel C, Hubé F, Mani SA, Santulli G Taube JH, Szweykowska-Kulinska Z. The Non-Coding RNA Journal Club: Highlights on Recent Papers-2. Non-coding RNA. 2015 September, 1(2), 167-169. Paper here

Berindan-Neagoe I, Calin GA, Francastel C, Hubé F, Santulli G. The Non-Coding RNA Journal Club: Highlights on Recent Papers-3. Non-coding RNA. 2015 December, 1(3). Paper here

Thijssen PE, Ito Y, Grillo G, Wang J, Velasco G, Nitta H, Unoki M, Yoshihara M, Suyama M, Sun Y, Lemmers RJ, de Greef JC, Gennery A, Picco P, Kloeckener-Gruissem B, Güngör T, Reisli I, Picard C, Kebaili K, Roquelaure B, Iwai T, Kondo I, Kubota T, van Ostaijen-Ten Dam MM, van Tol MJ, Weemaes C, Francastel C, van der Maarel SM, Sasaki H. Mutations in CDCA7 and HELLS cause immunodeficiency-centromeric instability-facial anomalies syndrome. Nat Commun. 2015 Jul 28;6:7870. PMID: 26216346

Hubé F, Francastel C. “Pocket-sized RNA-Seq”: a method to capture new mature microRNA produced from a genomic region of interest. Non-coding RNA. 2015 June;1(2):127-138. Paper here

Ferracin M, Gautheret D, Hubé F, Mani SA, Ørom UA, Santulli G, Slotkin RK, Szweykowska-Kulinska Z, Taube JH, Vazquez F, Yang JH. The Non-Coding RNA Journal Club: Highlights on Recent Papers. Non-coding RNA. 2015 June 17;1(1):87-93. Paper here

Hubé F, Francastel C. Mammalian Introns: When the Junk Generates Molecular Diversity. Int J of Mol Sci. 2015 Feb 20;16(3):4429-4452. PMID: 25710723

Ulveling D, Dinger M, Francastel C, Hubé F. Identification of a dinucleotide signature that discriminates coding from non-coding long RNAs. Front Genet. 2014 Sep 9;5:316. PMID: 25250049

Walton E, Francastel C, Velasco G. Dnmt3b prefers germ line genes and centromeric regions: lessons from ICF and cancer and implications for diseases. Biology (Basel). 2014 Sep 5;3(3):578-605. PMID: 25198254

Velasco G, Walton EL, Sterlin D, Hédouin S, Nitta H, Yuya I, Fouyssac F, Mégarbané A, Sasaki H, Picard C, Francastel C. Germline genes hypomethylation and expression define a molecular signature in peripheral blood of ICF patients: implications for diagnosis and etiology. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2014 Apr 17;9(1):56. PMID: 24742017

Nitta H, Unoki M, Ichiyanagi K, Kosho T, Shigemura T, Takahashi H, Velasco G, Francastel C, Picard C, Kubota T, Sasaki H. Three novel ZBTB24 mutations identified in Japanese and Cape Verdean type 2 ICF syndrome patients. J Hum Genet. 2013 Jul;58(7):455-60. PMID: 23739126

Walton EL, Francastel C, Velasco G. Maintenance of DNA methylation: Dnmt3b joins the dance. Epigenetics. 2011 Nov;6(11):1373-7. PMID: 22048250

Ulveling D, Francastel C, Hubé F. When one is better than two: RNA with dual functions. Biochimie. 2011 Apr;93(4):633-44. Review. PMID: 21111023

Ulveling D, Francastel C, Hubé F. Identification of potentially new bifunctional RNA based on genome-wide data-mining of alternative splicing events. Biochimie. 2011 Nov;93(11):2024-7. PMID: 21729736

Hubé F, Velasco G, Rollin J, Furling D, Francastel C. Steroid receptor RNA activator protein binds to and counteracts SRA RNA-mediated activation of MyoD and muscle differentiation. Nucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan;39(2):513-25. PMID: 20855289

Francastel C, Hubé F. Coding or non-coding: Need they be exclusive? Biochimie. 2011 Nov;93(11):vi-vii. PMID: 21963143

Velasco G, Hubé F, Rollin J, Neuillet D, Philippe C, Bouzinba-Segard H, Galvani A, Viegas-Péquignot E, Francastel C. Dnmt3b recruitment through E2F6 transcriptional repressor mediates germ-line gene silencing in murine somatic tissues. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 May 18;107(20):9281-6. PMID: 20439742

Guillemin C, Francastel C. [Heterochromatin compartments and gene silencing: human hematopoietic differentiation as a model study]. Biol Aujourdhui. 2010;204(3):221-33. Review. French. PMID: 20950566

Guasconi V, Pritchard LL, Fritsch L, Mesner LD, Francastel C, Harel-Bellan A, Ait-Si-Ali S. Preferential association of irreversibly silenced E2F-target genes with pericentromeric heterochromatin in differentiated muscle cells. Epigenetics. 2010 Nov-Dec;5(8):704-9. PMID: 20716953

Guillemin C, Maleszewska M, Guais A, Maës J, Rouyez MC, Yacia A, Fichelson S, Goodhardt M, Francastel C. Chromatin modifications in hematopoietic multipotent and committed progenitors are independent of gene subnuclear positioning relative to repressive compartments. Stem Cells. 2009 Jan;27(1):108-15. PMID: 18974210

Ferri F, Bouzinba-Segard H, Velasco G, Hubé F, Francastel C. Non-coding murine centromeric transcripts associate with and potentiate Aurora B kinase. Nucleic Acids Res. 2009 Aug;37(15):5071-80. PMID: 19542185

Maës J, Maleszewska M, Guillemin C, Pflumio F, Six E, André-Schmutz I, Cavazzana-Calvo M, Charron D, Francastel C, Goodhardt M. Lymphoid-affiliated genes are associated with active histone modifications in human hematopoietic stem cells. Blood. 2008 Oct 1;112(7):2722-9. PMID: 18625888