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BIGR
The Red Blood Cell: Beyond a “Hemoglobin Bag”
While commonly perceived as a simple oxygen transporter, the red blood cell (RBC) is far more than that. Despite lacking a nucleus and organelles, RBCs are highly specialized and versatile cells that play critical roles in various physiological processes:
Transportation and Signaling: RBCs transport oxygen and carbon dioxide, and participate in signaling pathways crucial for vascular and systemic health.
Immune Defense: RBCs contribute to anti-infectious defense by binding pathogens and interacting with immune cells.
Adhesion and Interaction: RBCs engage in adhesion and interaction with endothelial cells, placental tissue, macrophages, and other blood cells.
Self-Identification: RBCs express blood group antigens, serving as markers for self-recognition and compatibility in transfusions.
Redox Balance and pH Buffering: RBCs maintain redox homeostasis and act as buffers to regulate pH in the bloodstream.
Mechanical Properties: With remarkable deformability and resilience, RBCs navigate through the microvasculature, ensuring efficient oxygen delivery.
These diverse functions link RBCs to a wide array of pathologies, including:
Erythroid Disorders: Diseases directly affecting RBCs, such as sickle cell disease, thalassemias, membrane pathologies, and malaria.
Systemic Conditions: Non-erythroid pathologies like inflammatory and vascular diseases, thrombosis, cardiovascular conditions, and metabolic disorders.
Far from being inert “hemoglobin bags,” RBCs are dynamic players in health and disease, contributing to critical biological processes and representing key targets for therapeutic intervention.
Our Research: Experimental and In Silico Approaches to Understand Red Blood Cells (RBCs)
Our integrative approach bridges molecular, cellular, and systemic insights, advancing the understanding of RBC biology and its implications in health, disease, and therapeutic innovations.
Healthy Red Blood Cells
Protein and Membrane Complexes: Investigating the structure and function of transport, scaffold, and other essential protein complexes.
Splenic Physiology: Understanding the spleen's role in RBC clearance and recycling.
Erythropoiesis: Deciphering the mechanisms of red blood cell production and maturation.
Autophagy: Exploring autophagic processes in erythroid cells and mature RBCs.
Pathological Red Blood Cells
Sickle Cell Disease: Investigating the molecular and physiological effects of hemoglobin polymerization, vaso-occlusive crises, inflammatory reactions, hemolysis, mitochondrial retention, and spleen dysfunction. Advancing understanding to improve therapeutic strategies
Rare Anemias: Unveiling mechanisms of congenital and acquired anemias.
Ineffective Erythropoiesis: Analyzing disruptions in RBC production.
Non-Erythroid Diseases: Investigating RBC involvement in systemic conditions, such as Gaucher disease, polycythemia vera, and central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO).
Parasitized Red Blood Cells
Post-Artesunate Delayed Hemolysis: Examining delayed hemolysis mechanisms following malaria treatment.
Host-Pathogen Interaction: Elucidating the role of the spleen in interactions between RBCs and pathogens.
RBCs in Transfusion Medicine
Storage Lesions: Understanding the biochemical and structural changes in stored RBCs.
Transfusion Yields: Optimizing RBC recovery and functionality post-transfusion.
Molecular Basis of New Blood Groups: Investigating the functions of newly identified blood group antigens and their associated pathologies.
Nous avons eu le plaisir d’accueillir Tanguy Leroux, un communicateur scientifique passionné.
Nous avons eu le plaisir d’accueillir Tanguy Leroux, un communicateur scientifique passionné.
Tanguy Leroux est pharmacien, biologiste et passionné de communication scientifique. Très actif sur les réseaux sociaux, Tanguy partage des vidéos qui rendent la recherche accessible au grand public et mettent en lumière le travail réalisé dans nos laboratoires.
En avril 2025, il est venu à notre rencontre, animé par la curiosité de découvrir les nombreux sujets de recherche développés autour du globule rouge et de l’érythropoïèse par les quatre équipes de l’unité BIGR.
Un grand merci à Lucia Angella et Eva Guillot d’avoir pris le temps de partager un aperçu de leur travail avec lui !
La vidéo est disponible sur les chaînes YouTube et Instagram de Tanguy.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JckXUTDjpg0
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJo2KvfsSDZ/?igsh=bGU0eDhobHRrZTdu
We had the pleasure of welcoming Tanguy Leroux, a pharmacist, biologist, and passionate science communicator. Very active on social media, Tanguy shares videos that make research accessible to the general public and highlight the work being carried out in our laboratories.
In April 2025, he visited us, driven by curiosity to discover the many research topics developed around red blood cells and erythropoiesis by the four teams of the BIGR unit.
A big thank you to Lucia Angella and Eva Guillot for taking the time to share an overview of their work with him!
The video is available on Tanguy's YouTube and Instagram channels.
The U1134 "Integrated Biology of the Red Blood Cell" unit celebrated its move to the Lavoisier site on the Necker campus on October 17th, 2024
Après deux déménagements successifs, le premier depuis l’Institut National de la Transfusion Sanguine, où notre unité est née et a évolué pendant plus de 30 ans, vers le site Broussais en 2021, puis de Broussais au campus Necker en janvier 2024, cette étape marque une nouvelle ère pour notre unité.
Cette journée, riche en émotions et en joie, a été marquée par la présence du Président Directeur Général de l'Inserm, Monsieur Didier Samuel, le Président de l’Université Paris Cité, Monsieur Edouard Kaminski, la Présidente de la Commission médicale d'établissement locale AP-HP.Centre, Madame Claire Poyart, ainsi que le Professeur Olivier Hermine. Tous ont exprimé dans leurs discours un soutien chaleureux et affirmé à notre unité, un soutien déjà visible à travers les rénovations complètes des 1er et 7e étages du bâtiment Lavoisier, grâce à l'engagement conjoint de l'AP-HP Necker, de l'Inserm et de l'Université Paris Cité.
Nous avons également été profondément honorés par la présence des doyens de la Faculté de Santé et de la Faculté des Sciences, de la doyenne de médecine, de la directrice de l’UFR SdV, de la directrice de la stratégie et de la recherche APHP.Centre-UP cité, de notre direction régionale Île-de-France Centre-Nord, ainsi que de la direction de l’EFS, de l’ancien doyen de santé, et de bien d’autres. Bien que nous ne puissions les nommer tous individuellement, nous les remercions chaleureusement pour leur présence et leur soutien.
L’hématologie, le globule rouge et la biologie transfusionnelle ont devant eux de belles perspectives. Nous continuerons à les faire rayonner au sein du campus Necker, en collaboration étroite avec l’Institut Imagine et l’Institut Necker-Enfants Malades.
After two successive relocations—first from the National Institute of Blood Transfusion, where our unit was born and evolved for over 30 years, to the Broussais site in 2021, and then from Broussais to the Necker campus in January 2024, this moment marks a new chapter for our unit.
This event, full of joy and emotion, was highlighted by the presence of distinguished guests, including the President and CEO of Inserm, Mr. Didier Samuel, the President of Paris Cité University, Mr. Edouard Kaminski, the President of the local medical commission at AP-HP Centre, Mrs. Claire Poyart, and Professor Olivier Hermine. In their speeches, they expressed their strong and unwavering support for our unit, a support already exemplified by the AP-HP Necker, which, in collaboration with Inserm and Paris Cité University, renovated the 1st and 7th floors of the Lavoisier building.
We were deeply honored by the presence of our Dean of Medicine, the Director of the SdV Faculty, the Deans of the Faculties of Health and Sciences, our AD IdF-CN, the management staff of the French Blood Establishment (EFS), the former Dean of Health, and many more. Although we cannot mention everyone by name, we extend our heartfelt thanks to them for their support and presence.
We were also deeply honored by the presence of the deans of the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Sciences, the dean of medicine, the director of the UFR SdV, the director of strategy and research APHP.Centre-UP cité, our regional management Île-de-France Centre-Nord, as well as the management staff of the EFS, the former dean of health, and many others. Although we cannot name them all individually, we warmly thank them for their presence and support.
Hematology, red blood cell, and transfusion biology have bright futures ahead, and we will continue to ensure they thrive within the Necker campus, working in close collaboration with the Imagine Institute and the Necker-Enfants Malades Institute.
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