Romain Fontaine

ABOUT ME:

Born in 1988, I got my Bachelor degree  in 2009, at the University Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris (France) which is now called Sorbone University. 

I then joined an international master program at UPMC on Integrative Biology and Physiology with a speciality on marine organisms. I traveled and studied in different marine stations in France (Oceanological observatory in Banyuls sur Mer and biologic station in Roscoff). I also spent 6 months in Santiago (Chile) and 2 months in Barcelona (Spain) where I studied at the Pontificia Universidad Catholica de Chile (PUC) and the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB). After 2 years, in 2011, I received a master degree from UPMC and from PUC.

I continued with a PhD in Neurosciences at the Center of the National Research (CNRS) in Gif sur Yvette (France) in the laboratory of Prof. Philippe Vernier, under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Pasqualini and Dr. Sylvie Dufour, and with the support from Dr Key Yamamoto and Dr Pierre Affaticati.

In 2015, I moved to Oslo (Norway) in the laboratory of Prof. Finn-Arne Weltzien for a postdoc and then as researcher at the Norwegian university of Life Sciences (NMBU). In 2019, I got offered the leadership of Prof. Weltzien group after his promotion as leader of the institute.

Since 2022, I have held a permanent position as Senior Engineer at NMBU, with the responsibility of establishing and commissioning the newly designed fish facility in the Veterinary School building. I am currently the Operation Manager of the fish facility (FISH-VET). In parallel with these responsibilities, I continue my research on neuroendocrine plasticity and the regulation of fish physiology, using model fish species and A. salmon. 

ABOUT MY RESEARCH:

My research interest encompasses the interactions between the molecular, cellular and physiological levels, and the role that environment play in their regulation. Today, I focus my research on the brain and pituitary gland and their plasticity which allows differential hormone production, thus allowing the animals to adapt to their environment through 3 mains reasearch areas: 

• MARINE BIOLOGY: Effect of the environmental factors including social interactions, light and temperature, on the fish physiology and behavior
• ENDOCRINOLOGY: Role of the hormones in the regulation of the important physiological functions such as reproduction, osmoregulation, stress, ...
• NEUROSCIENCES: Effects of neurohormones and neurotransmitters on cell activity and cell proliferation, cell migration

I mainly use transgenesis, tissue labeling and imaging techniques with teleost fish as model organisms (zebrafish and medaka) but I also have some work on Atlantic salmon.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

• Histology (multicolor fluorescent in situ hybridization and immunostaining)
• Imaging (confocal microscopy, 3D, live, calcium)
• Protein and RNA quantification (ELISA, qPCR)
• Electrophysiology (patch clamp)
• Transgenesis (fluorescent reporter lines, CRISPR/CAS9, Nitroreductase/metronidazol)
• Molecular biology (cloning, cell birthdating,...)
• Neuroanatomy

My CV