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Biography

Fabien obtained his PhD in Neuroscience in 2012 from the University of Bordeaux (France) under the supervision of Dr Etienne Coutureau in the . During his PhD he investigated the role of the mesocortical dopamine pathway in goal-directed behaviour and its maturation during adolescence.

He stayed in Bordeaux for his first postdocs with Dr Martine Cador ( team) and Dr Guillaume Ferreira () to work on the long-term impact of sugar and high-fat diet overconsumption during adolescence on reward and memory processes.

In 2017, Fabien moved to the University of Leicester (England) to work as a postdoc with  on the neurobiological circuits underlying protein appetite. In June 2020, Fabien is joining the Rowett Institute as Lecturer in Neuroscience.

Prizes and Awards

• 2022: The Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award
• 2019- EBBS 2019 Travel award (Elsevier-Brain and Behaviour Research)
• 2019- The Physiology Society travel award
• 2018- Research Leadership Programme, University of Leicester.
• 2017- Postdoc Prize talk (Dept. of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester)

Research Overview

Developmental aspects of normal and pathological food related behaviours

Control of food intake in a dynamic environment requires complex cognitive processes integrating internal and external information to support approach and food-seeking behaviours.

Early stages of life (childhood, adolescence) represent critical vulnerability windows and previous work suggests that the exposure to external factors such as diet habits during development may alter cognitive and neurobiological maturation.

Current Research

Our research aims to investigate 1) how cognitive processes underlying food related behaviours and their neurobiological substrates are changing throughout development, and 2) how nutritional environment may affect these maturation processes and lead to pathological states, especially obesity and other food-related disorders.

To answer these questions we combine behavioural analyses (Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning) with in vivo recordings/manipulation of targeted brain circuits and ex vivo measures of brain function.

Research Team

• Robert "Bob" West - Research technician

• Diptendu Mukherjee - Postdoctoral research fellow

• Mhari Durbaba - MRes student

Knowledge Exchange

Explorathon 21 (Aberdeen Science Centre Takeover)

Rowett Open Day (Sept 24)

Tech's Fest school visit (Sept 24)

Collaborations

Aberdeen:

- Prof Lora Heisler (Rowett Institute)

- Dr Antonio Gonzalez (Rowett Institute)

- Dr George McIlroy (Rowett Institute)

- Dr Dawn Thompson / Dr James Hislop (IMS)

UK:

- (University of Sussex)

- (University of Sussex)

International:

- (CNRS / Université de Bordeaux)

- (CNRS / Université de Bordeaux)

- (University of Calgary)

- (CNRS / Université de Bordeaux)

- (INRAE / Université de Bordeaux)

- (UiT, The Artic University of Norway)

- (NIDA, Baltimore)

Funding and Grants

The Royal Society - Research Grant (PI; 2021-2022)

Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund - ISSF (PI; 2021)

The Tenovus Scotland - Small Pilot Grant  (PI; 2021-2022 / co-PI; 2024-2025)

The Academy of Medical Sciences - Springboard award (PI; 2022-2024)

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (PI; 2025)

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (co-I; 2024-2026)

BBSRC New Investigator (PI; 2024-2027)

Aberdeen-Calgary-Curtin Research Catalyst fund (2025)

The Hotchkiss Brain Institute International collaboration grant (2025-2027)