Sarah Colombani, FRM award: "This recognition will follow me throughout my career".

Winning an award when you're just starting your thesis is a bit of a surprise. What does this Jeanne Philippe Beziat prize reward?

It's true, I only started my first year of thesis work two weeks ago. The Jeanne Philippe Beziat prize is awarded to young doctoral students working in the field of cardiology. The FRM jury assessed both the doctoral student's dossier and the thesis project itself.

What does this mean for you in terms of recognition and opportunities?

First of all, when you're just starting out, it puts a bit of pressure on you, and you have to aim high. Winning a cardiology prize doesn't happen to everyone, and to be singled out by the Foundation for Medical Research is extraordinary. I think this recognition will stay with me for the rest of my career. And for the laboratory, it gives us visibility. It's a great opportunity.

You received your award at a grand ceremony in Paris. How did you feel about it?  

I've never had to speak in front of so many people, so yes, it was really stressful! Fortunately, the ceremony was designed to make us feel at the forefront. We were mixed in with some of the world's leading researchers, who themselves had received research and scientific awards. There were a number of important personalities present, including the Minister of Higher Education and Marina Carrère D'Encausse, who presented me with the prize.

You can't do research without money. A prize is real financial support?

Of course it is! The prize money is 102,600 euros, which is quite substantial. I suppose it will both fund my project and pay for my thesis. It's a real plus for the laboratory.

Can you tell us a bit about your project?

Doctors Alain Lacampagne and Albano Meli, my thesis supervisors, recently discovered that the mutation of a channel - allowing calcium to enter the heart and thus cause contraction - involved in a cardiac disease called CPVT (for Catecolimergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia), was also associated with neurological diseases such as epilepsy. In other words, for the first time, they have shown that this mutation can have an upstream effect on neurons.

So you're going to go ahead with the work?

My thesis concerns a patient with this CPVT who also has an autistic syndrome. In this particular case, we want to see whether the neurons are mutated, and if so, whether they have an effect on the heart and vice versa. This thesis is made possible by a fairly recent and unprecedented system: microfluidic chips. The ultimate aim is to study the interaction between neurons and the heart under conditions of neurocardiological disease, and to see precisely what treatment is effective at both levels.

You're starting your thesis at the age of 24. When did you know you wanted to do cardiology research?

In my^3rd year of a bachelor's degree in animal physiology and neuroscience, I took courses in cardiology, which fascinated me. To go further, I enrolled for a Master's degree in experimental and regenerative medicine, with Professor Jean-Yves LeGuennec, and discovered innovative therapies and work on stem cells. It's really something incredible! When Dr Albano Meli suggested this subject, which combined cardio, stem cells and innovative therapies, I said to myself that this was exactly what I wanted to do.

Have you done all your studies at the University of Montpellier?

Yes, I studied in Montpellier, but I was born and raised in Morocco. I arrived here after I graduated from the Lycée Descartes in Rabat in 2013. I started out in medicine, because a lot of people around me and in my family are in the medical field, but as the year went on, I realized that basic science suited me more. So I went to the Faculty of Science and that was it! It was a natural progression for me.

How do you see your future?

I've just started my thesis, so I'm not going to go too fast, but I know that after that it's bound to be a post-doc. I'd like to go to a laboratory in the United States working on stem cells and heart disease with innovative therapies, so that I can perfect my experimental techniques. I hope to come back with this expertise for a second post-doc in France and, of course, pass the competitive exams and become a researcher here.