Kansas City, Mo. (September 30, 2009) – The Stowers Institute for Medical Research congratulates Olivier Pourquié, Ph.D. on his appointment as Director of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC) in Strasbourg, France. The IGBMC was founded in 1994 and has become one of the leading European centers of biomedical research. It is devoted to the study of higher eukaryotic genomes and to the control of genetic expression as well as the analysis of the function of genes and proteins. Pierre Chambon, discoverer of nuclear hormone receptors and winner of the 2004 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, served as the founding Director of the IGBMC.

     Dr. Pourquié joined the Stowers Institute early in its operation on the Brush Creek Campus in Kansas City. He arrived in June 2002 after serving as an independent research group leader in the Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille, France. He completed undergraduate and graduate studies at the Cellular and Molecular Embryology Institute, Nogent-sur-Marne, and earned a Ph.D. from the National Agronomy Institute, Paris-Grignon. At the Stowers Institute, Dr. Pourquié quickly established a highly productive research program based on his earlier discovery of the rhythmic gene regulation underlying formation of periodic structures of the vertebrate body such as the vertebrae.

     Dr. Pourquié’s research productivity soared in the supportive environment of the Stowers Institute. He published numerous high-profile papers in leading journals such as Nature and Science that firmly established his leadership in the field of vertebrate developmental biology. His research at the Institute has revealed the detailed mechanisms governing the segmental organization of muscle and vertebral precursors, a field of research with significant relevance to developmental disorders and human birth defects. Specific examples include:

1. A paper in Nature early in 2003 showing that the Notch signaling pathway provides the foundation of the segmentation clock in spinal development
2. An article in Nature early in 2004 reporting the discovery that Fgf8 messenger RNA decay provides a mechanism to coordinate segmentation and body axis formation.
3. A paper in Nature in 2005 demonstrating the role of retinoic acid in coordinating right-left patterning and bilateral symmetry during spine development
4. A paper in Developmental Cell in 2006 demonstrating the tight coordination between regulation of segmental patterning and cellular organization of the mesoderm.
5. A paper in Nature in 2006 demonstrating that transcription factor genes belonging to the Hox group control cell movements of the precursors of the vertebrae during gastrulation
6. A paper in Science late in 2006 that used a microarray-based strategy to identify a network of cyclic genes in the Notch/FGF and Wnt pathways that underlies the oscillator mechanism controlling somite formation
7. A paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences early in 2007 showing a dual origin of paraxial mesoderm precursors during gastrulation.
8. A paper in Development late in 2007 that revealed a signaling hierarchy downstream of FGF signaling that controls clock oscillations during spine development
9. A paper in Nature Cell Biology at the end of 2007 demonstrating the importance of ß-catenin, a key component of the Wnt-signaling pathway, in the process of somite formation
10. A paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics in 2008 showing that genes known to cause spinal mutations in chick and mouse model systems also play an important role in human patients with congenital vertebral abnormalities.
11. A paper in Nature in 2008 revealing how vertebrates from fish to mammals regulate the number of vertebral segments characteristic of the species and providing a conceptual framework to explain the striking increase in vertebral number in snakes

1. In 2004, the American Association of Anatomists honored Dr. Pourquié with the Harland Winfield Mossman Award in Developmental Biology in recognition of his pioneering research on mechanisms governing temporal control of patterning in spinal segmentation.
2. Also in 2004, the editors of the Nature Publishing Group released their Milestones in Development which credited Dr. Pourquié with the most recent of 24 notable discoveries in developmental biology over the past 100 years - his discovery of the segmentation clock that controls somite formation during spinal development.
3. In 2005, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute selected Dr. Pourquié as one of only 43 researchers to receive coveted HHMI Investigator appointments from among more than 300 invited nominees.
4. Later in 2005, Dr. Pourquié received the Victor Noury Award from the Institut de France on the recommendation of the French Academy of Sciences in recognition of his research discoveries regarding the molecular processes responsible for spine development in vertebrates.

     “All of us at the Stowers Institute wish Olivier Pourquié would remain with us longer, but he made it clear when we recruited him that he would eventually return to France,” said Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., Scientific Director of the Stowers Institute.

     “During his seven years here, Olivier Pourquié’s collaboration with our research support facilities and technology centers brought cutting edge technologies to bear on important questions in the field of spinal development,” said Dave Chao, President of the Stowers Institute. “We are proud of Olivier’s significant contributions in this area and pleased that his notable productivity has accelerated international recognition of the Institute as a sponsor of superlative biomedical research.”

     “We are gratified that France has recognized Olivier Pourquié as the best-qualified successor of Pierre Chambon to lead the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg,” said Bill Neaves, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the Stowers Institute. “Olivier will do an outstanding job in his new position, and the Stowers Institute is pleased to have played a role in preparing him for it.”

     “It has been an incredibly exciting experience to participate in the success of the Stowers Institute and see it grow so rapidly to become an international leader in basic biomedical research,” said Olivier Pourquié, Ph.D. “It has been wonderful to hold a Howard Hughes investigatorship here at the Stowers Institute and focus entirely on science in the most supportive environment I have ever experienced while surrounded by outstanding colleagues. Returning to France has not been an easy decision, but the opportunity to lead such a prestigious Institute as the IGBMC constitutes a unique opportunity. This together with family ties in France eventually led me to decide to come back home.

     “The IGBMC, which was founded by Pierre Chambon, is undoubtedly one of the very best institutes for biomedical research in Europe, and thus it was a great honor for me to be asked to lead such a prestigious institution. Watching the dazzling progress of the Stowers Institute under its enlightened leadership has been an inspiring experience that has prepared me for this new challenge. However, I will be very sad to leave all my friends and colleagues here. I plan to continue interacting scientifically with them, and I hope to come back to Kansas City from time to time to follow the future successes of the Stowers Institute.”

About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
     The Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing, treating, and curing disease.

     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research is home to 20 independent research teams, three technology centers, six research support facilities, and more than 490 members who have assembled from across the nation and 20 + countries around the world.