Soussi-Yanicostas, Nadia

Nadia Soussi-Yanicostas is a French neuroscientist and geneticist renowned for her research into the molecular and cellular basis of normal neurodevelopment and neurodevelomental pathologies, particularly Kallmann syndrome and childhood epilepsy. She is a senior research director (DR1) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). In 2024, she was awarded the Knight of the National Order of Merit of France in recognition of her major contributions to neuroscience research.
Nadia Soussi-Yanicostas completed her postgraduate studies at the University Paris City in Paris. In 1991, she defended her thesis on the differentiation of human skeletal muscle during development at the University Paris City; under the supervision of Gillian Butler-Browne. She then carried out postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Francois Gros at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where she cloned and characterised the multigene complex comprising several genes encoding the different isoforms of human myosin heavy chain. She went on to do a second postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Jean Weissenbach and then Christine Petit, also at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. There she demonstrated the functions of anosmin-1, a protein encoded by the KAL1 gene, which is responsible for the X-linked form of Kallmann de Morsier syndrome. She was recruited to the CNRS in 1994. In 2005, as a winner of the Inserm-Avenir programme, she set up her own team at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, where she introduced the use of the zebrafish model in biomedical research. She installed the first zebrafish facility on the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital site. Between 2005 and 2024, she studied a number of neurological diseases, including Kallmann syndrome, spastic paraplegia, spinocerebellar ataxia type 7, tauopathies, infantile epilepsy, the role of certain pesticides on neurodevelopment and the role of the zebrafish.
Between 2005 and 2024, she studied a number of neurological diseases, including Kallmann syndrome, spastic paraplegia, spinocerebellar ataxia type 7, tauopathies, childhood epilepsy, the role of certain pesticides in neurodevelopment and the transgenerational effects of antiepileptic drugs. In 2018, she was promoted to second-class research director and, in 2023, to first-class research director at the CNRS.
- Nadia Soussi-Yanicostas is pilot scientific adviser for neurosciences and disorders of the nervous system at the High Council for Research and Higher Education (HCERES).
Honours and awards
- 2005: Inserm Avenir programme laureate
- 2005: Fondation pour le Recherche Medicale Programme laureate
- 2024: Institut de Recherche en Sante; Publique Programme laureate
- 2024: Award of Knight of the National Order of Merit of France

Supervised thesis

Thesis de Doctorat de University Paris City, 2021. Julie Somkhit. (http://www.theses.fr/s208315).
Thesis de Doctorat de University Paris City; 2021. Alexandre Brenet. https://theses.fr/2021UNIP7135.
Thesis de Doctorat de University Paris City, 2019. Rahma Hassan Abdi. https://theses.fr/s180449.
Thesis de Doctorat de University Paris 7, 2014. Maryam Alavi Naini https://theses.fr/187363455
Thesis de Doctorat de University Paris 6 , 2009. Besma AYari. https://theses.fr/2009PA066243

Keywords: Epilepsy; Microglia; Zebrafish; Neuroprotection; Dravet syndrome; Encephalopathies; Pesticides; Synapses; Tauopathies; Neuro-inflammation; Tau; Abeta; Behaviour; Organophosphorus, Calcium imaging; Autism; Genetic models of Epilepsy in zebrafish.