Le mercredi 19 mars 2025, Monsieur Ilyas CHOHRA, titulaire d'un d’un Master en sciences, technologies, santé, mention approches interdisciplinaires de la recherche et de l'enseignement (Université de Paris) et d’un Certificat de formation à la recherche en sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques, présentera l'examen en vue de l'obtention du grade de Doctorat en sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques, sous la direction de Madame Brigitte MALGRANGE.

Cette épreuve consistera en la défense publique d'une thèse intitulée : «Modeling CHD4-associated Hearing Loss in SIHIWES Human Cochlear Organoids». 

Le jury sera composé de :

Laurent NGUYEN (Président), Laurence DELACROIX (Secrétaire), Heiko LOCHER (Univ. Leiden), Brigitte MALGRANGE, Bernard PEERS, Sarah VERGULT (UGent)

Résumé de la thèse

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a widespread disability, demanding a deeper understanding of its molecular mechanisms for targeted therapies. Pluripotent stem cell-derived cochlear organoids offer an ethical, scalable and high-fidelity alternative for studying human auditory biology. This thesis focuses on studying the impact of mutations in Chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 4 (CHD4) on the development of cochlear organoids. CHD4 is key chromatin remodeler implicated in a rare genetic disease named Sifrim-Heitz-Weiss syndrome (SIHIWES), it ensures several important functions including proper epigenetic control and differentiation of progenitors, DNA repair and cell cycle progression. This work investigates phenotypes of mutant organoids, their transcriptomic and epigenetic profile, in an effort to get a deeper insight into the mechanisms of sensorineural hearing loss in SIHIWES patients and the function CHD4 protein. 

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