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The SBCF Board of Directors is delighted to award the €5,000 Prix Jeune Chercheur(se) 2024 to Meryem Baghdadi, who is currently working as a CNRS researcher in the Cell Biology and Cancer Unit (UMR 144) at the Institut Curie in Paris.

Meryem Baghdadi’s remarkable work has focused on the detailed analysis of the biology of stem cells and the subtle interplay with their microenvironments initially during her PhD training at the Institut Pasteur, then, her postdoctoral experience in Toronto, and now with a CNRS permanent position. After uncovering the active mechanisms controlling the quiescence of muscle stem cells, Meryem Baghdadi now explores the properties of intestinal stem cells and their privileged interactions within micro-niches, with both fundamental and applied perspectives in regenerative medicine.

We would like to thank the 14 other candidates and underline the very high standard of the competition, which took place in two rounds, with evaluation by all members of the Board, without any conflict of interest. Therefore, we strongly encourage all candidates to apply for the JC 2025 prize, provided their eligibility.

The award will be presented to Meryem Baghdadi at the Annual General Meeting of the SBCF which will take place at the Institut Cochin (Paris, 75014) on June 18th, 2024, starting at 1:30pm.

We will have the pleasure of hearing her presenting her science in a talk entitled « The multiple faces of stem cell-niche interactions »  scheduled around 15h45.

Let us again warmly congratulate Meryem Baghdadi!

We hope to see many of you at Cochin to benefit from this presentation at the SBCF “Assemblée Générale”,

Isabelle Tardieux, Présidente de la SBCF,

and the administrative Council.