The "Blood Cell Biology and Biological Anthropology" team is a multidisciplinary team interested in blood cells and blood groups, in their diversity, their geographical distribution and their functions.
Headed by Dr. Wassim El Nemer, it gathers doctoral students, research engineers, technicians, researchers, teacher-researchers and hospital practitioners from biological or medical sciences interested in understanding the specificities and biological characteristics of blood cells and the blood groups carried on their surface, with anthropological and biomedical perspectives.
The team relies on biological collections and samples of rare blood, through its membership in the Établissement Français du Sang and its collaborations with clinical teams at the local and national levels, to develop its research projects in a multidisciplinary scope integrating biological anthropology, molecular and cellular biology and clinical research.
The studies in progress are deployed around two main axes:
- The first axis is interested in the diversity of blood groups in its anthropological dimension (analysis of the geographical distribution and definition of the underlying evolutionary forces in both current and past populations), and biomedical, related to the immunogenicity of its polymorphism which opposes transfusion, transplantation and incompatible pregnancy.
- The second axis focuses on the study of the normal and pathological red blood cell, exploring various aspects related to the hematopoietic stem cell and erythropoiesis as well as the properties of the circulating cell and its interactions in the vascular environment; this axis combines basic and translational research, particularly in the context of hemoglobinopathies, hemolytic anemias and thrombosis.
Highlights
The 2018-2022 five-year period was marked by the obtaining of national and international research contracts, including a contract funded by the European Commission, the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie EVIDENCE NIT project led by Wassim El Nemer (2020) as a partner, and a contract funded by the ANR, the IRIS project coordinated by Wassim El Nemer (2021), which play a structuring role and contribute to consolidate the scientific record of the BCSA team.
This five-year period was also marked by :
- the obtaining of a Chair of Excellence from the A*MIDEX initiative of excellence, with the welcoming in the team of Pr Andres Ruiz-Linares, Honorary Professor in Human Genetics at University College London.
- the carrying of the GDR Reshape by Harilanto Razafindrazaka (2021) and the integration of the team in the GDR O3, the GDR MECABIO and in the Labex GR-Ex, a national network of more than 30 partners working in the field of the red blood cell, erythropoiesis and iron metabolism
The dynamism of the team and its anchoring in the scientific world is also reflected in the organization of scientific meetings, such as the 14th Conference of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (April 23-26, 2019), the annual meeting of the GDR O3 (2019), and the XXXth Congress of the French Society of Blood Transfusion (2021).
The influence of the BCSA team was notably ensured by the prize for the best thesis of the University of Aix-Marseille awarded to the archaeo-anthropologist Avril Meffray in 2021, and the IAST Multidisciplinary Prize awarded to the researcher Harilanto Razafindrazaka in 2018.
Finally, its influence is also ensured by the lasting involvement of some of its members in national and international learned societies such as the Société Française de Transfusion Sanguine, of which Jacques Chiaroni is currently the deputy secretary general, and the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, of which Stéphane Mazières is a member of the board of directors.
