Speaker: Hélène Castel
Location: Biomedical Sciences Building, University of Galway
Date: Thursday, 21st May 2026
Hélène Castel, PhD, is an Inserm Director of Research in Neuroscience and Neuro-oncology, co-founder of the Cancer and Cognition Platform at the University of Rouen Normandie, President of the Scientific Council of the Normandie Ligue contre le Cancer, and recently became co-scientific director of the North-West Cancéropôle. She obtained a PhD in cell electrophysiology in the field of GABA-GABAAR in neuroendocrinology at the University of Rouen Normandie.
She then worked on NMDAR activation kinetics using fast concentration-jump and patch-clamp techniques at University College London as a postdoctoral researcher in David Colquhoun’s laboratory. After being appointed as a researcher at Inserm in France, her team contributed to understanding the role of several chemopeptide GPCRs and G protein couplings in the context of brain gliovascular pathologies and glioma development. She is now Head of the Genetics, Biology and Plasticity of Brain Tumours “NeuroGlio” team at the Cancer and Brain Genomics (CGB) Research Institute of Rouen.
She was an active member of the REGPEP Society and is currently involved in the International Cognition and Cancer Task Force (ICCTF), the COST Action NET4BRAIN, the French GoPa network of ANOCEF, and the core team of the INCa LabEx CHANGING.
Her team specialises in investigating the effects of cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy, on cognition and brain function, as well as studying brain tumours, the neuro-immune microenvironment, and cognitive dysfunction in preclinical models. She develops preclinical models of PDX tumours and cancer surgery, and investigates the role of cancer-derived myeloid cells, exosomes, and systemic markers in brain plasticity and cognitive function. Using brain tumour organoids and iPS-derived cerebroids, she has recently initiated programmes on the genetic impact of brain tumour development and treatment neurotoxicities, as well as strategies for functional rehabilitation in preclinical models.
Seminar is hosted by Catalina Vallejo Giraldo
