Affiliation: Lille University, Sport, Heath, Society Pluridisciplinary Research Unit

Prof. Marie-Hélène Canu is currently a Professor in Neuroscience at the laboratory URePSSS (Unité de recherche pluridisciplinaire Sport Santé Société) in the team “Physical Activity, Muscle & Health” at University of Lille, France. She received a PhD in neuroscience at Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris.

Her research interests are in the effects of disuse on neuromuscular system. Her initial works examined how locomotor performance was influenced by a period of decrease in physical activity in rodents. Since one decade, much of her work is concentrated on the search for mechanisms of neuronal plasticity induced by disuse, and in the development of therapeutic strategies to prevent muscle atrophy and functional outcomes in patients subjected to physical hypoactivity, and in particular during development. Her laboratory combines molecular, cellular, and integrative approaches to study plasticity at all levels of the sensorimotor pathway, i.e., from cerebral cortex to muscle.