Christian Giaume, agur eta ohore

After completing a thesis on electrical synapses of invertebrates at the Pasteur Institute he pioneered a highly productive neuroscientific career focused on the molecular constituents of glial gap junctions and connexins, a topic in which he made key discoveries and become a world leader. His work led him to propose that instead of a “glial syncytium”, astroglia is organized in networks that are plastic and exhibit a specific spatial organization. He also studied the contribution of astroglial connexin channels in the control of synaptic plasticity in several mouse models of brain pathology such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, neuropathic pain, and sleep disorders.

Christian often visited Bilbao and the Basque Country, that he loved, gave several seminars and a plenary lecture at Neurogune 2013. As a member of our ISAC, he has been extremely supportive of Achucarro by providing advice and positive comments about the development and establishment of our Center. Christian was a very generous person and a great friend as well.