Alain Viel
| Alain Viel | |
|---|---|
| Born | France |
| Residence |
France, United States |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | Biochemistry, Biology |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Alma mater | Pierre and Marie Curie University |
| Doctoral advisor |
Marc le Maire, Daniel Branton |
| Known for | The Inner Life of the Cell |
Alain Viel is the director of Northwest Undergraduate Laboratories and senior lecturer in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University.[1]
Early life and education
Viel received a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology of Development from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, France (Paris VI) and did his postdoctoral work at Harvard University.[2]
Academic career
Viel teaches research-based courses as well as courses in molecular biology and biochemistry.
His main research is on tumor suppressor hDlg which includes an in-depth characterization of the combinations of hDlg isoforms present in multiple tissues and cell lines to correlate the presence of specific alternatively spliced insertions with a specific function of this tumor suppressor. He also studies the perturbation of hDlg distribution in two skin disease: psoriasis, characterized by a hyper-proliferation of basal cells, and Darier's disease, characterized by blisters resulting from the loss of cell adhesion in the supra-basal layers.[3][4]
He is a founding member of BioVisions, a collaboration between scientists, teaching faculty, students, and multimedia professionals that focuses on science visualization.[5]
Lectures
In 2015, Viel started to teach an online course MCB63X - Principles of Biochemistry with Rachelle Gaudet on edX which received great popularity and high praises from his students worldwide.[6]
Publications
Books
Viel is a co-author of the book - Biology: How Life Works. It is published by Macmillan Education and is the first project to develop three pillars: the text, the visual program, and the assessment at the same time.[7]
Multimedia
Viel is the co-author of the award winning animation series “The Inner Life of the Cell”.[8][9]
The Inner Life of the Cell is an 8.5-minute 3D computer graphics animation illustrating the molecular mechanisms that occur when a white blood cell in the blood vessels of the human body is activated by inflammation (Leukocyte extravasation). It shows how a white blood cell rolls along the inner surface of the capillary, flattens out, and squeezes through the cells of the capillary wall to the site of inflammation where it contributes to the immune reaction.[10]
References
- ↑ Instructor Profile: Alain Viel at edX
- ↑ Epernicus, Alain Viel
- ↑ Profile at Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
- ↑ Summer in the lab, Harvard Gagette
- ↑ Macmillan Higher Education
- ↑ edX bio
- ↑ Biology: How Life Works
- ↑ animation The Inner Life of the Cell
- ↑ Studio Daily
- ↑ "Lives of a Cell, the 3-D Version". Wired News. March 14, 2007. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
External links
- Webpage at Harvard University
- Northwest Teaching Laboratories
- MCB63X, Principles of Biochemistry, HarvardX, edX
- BioVisions
- "The Inner Life of the Cell". Harvard University. Archived from the original on Dec 15, 2008., "Narrated version". Archived from the original on Dec 25, 2008.
- YouTube video (narrated and much better than Harvard site because it is full size)
- The Inner Life of the Cell - Shockwave Flash Video (without narration)
- Extravasion Simplified cartoon version of the same process.
- David Bolinsky's Speech Presenting The Inner Life of the Cell