Marie-Christine  Broillet received her PhD in 1993 from the University of Lausanne for research on renal K channels performed with Prof. Jean-Daniel Horisberger. In 1998, after a post-doctoral training with Prof. Stuart Firestein at Columbia University (New York) where She studied olfactory cyclic nucleotide-gated channels, she joined the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the UNIL as a START fellow to create and lead her own research group working on ion channels and membrane receptors in olfactory neurons. In parallel to her scientific interests, Marie-Christine Broillet is personally involved in the organization of the Master of Science in Medical Biology (MSc BM) of the UNIL as well as in the formation of laboratory technicians by her chairmanship position of the “Association vaudoise pour les métiers de laboratoire” (AVML).

Studies using gene-targeted mice have revealed the presence in the nasal cavity of multiple neuronal compartments. Indeed, in rodents, the detection of olfactory cues seems to be primarily mediated by chemosensory neurons localized in four distinct olfactory subsystems: the main olfactory epithelium (MOE), the septal organ (SO), the vomeronasal organ (VNO), and most rostral olfactory subsystem, the Grueneberg ganglion (GG). By activation of these olfactory subsystems, mice are able to decipher their environment and to display adequate behaviors. For example, pheromones that are molecules secreted from an animal that trigger a social response in conspecifics could activate specific neurons in the VNO and induce aggressive behaviors. Another relevant example is the case of alarm pheromones that are secreted in threatening situations and mediate, via the activation of GG neurons, fear-like reactions in the recipient animals. Interestingly, pharmacological components of the transduction cascades that take place in the different olfactory subsystems as well as in their internal neuronal subpopulations are different and diverse.