Karl-Frédéric Vieux was born and raised in Pétion-Ville, Haiti, where his parents fostered his curiosity and sense of problem-solving from a young age. He spent his youth looking at dirt samples under his first microscope and watching a lot of Dexter’s Laboratory and Pinky and the Brain. He also credits his STEM teachers from the Lycée Alexandre Dumas school for his love of science.
He completed both undergraduate and graduate degrees at McGill University in Canada. Karl-Frédéric conducted his doctoral research on mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation in mammalian oogenesis, under the supervision of Hugh Clarke. As a graduate student, I worked extensively on RNA biology. It was the primary theme of my thesis and RNA-based methods were integral to that work. I learned about collection and culture of oocytes and embryos, microinjection, basic confocal microscopy as well as use and validation of siRNA. Under the supervision of Dr. Hugh Clarke’s lab, I also helped develop a PCR-based method to assess the poly(A) tail length of target transcripts which I used to study adenylation patterns in the oocyte. During this time, I was also exposed to various techniques of assisted reproductive technologies including in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic injection. I was also an active member in the reproductive biology research community, partaking in various workshops, seminars and conferences organized by Réseau Québécois en Reproduction (RQR), and the Montreal Center for Research in Reproduction and Development (CRRD formerly the Center for the Study of Reproduction). I have also consistently sought courses and seminars with a focus on reproduction and development. I therefore acquired a solid background and skillset to contribute to the fields of reproductive biology.
He then transitioned to the study of miRNAs, a family of small RNAs, for his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, where he trained under the mentorship of Katie McJunkin. During his fellowship, he investigated the mechanisms that regulate miRNA biogenesis and turnover using C. elegans as a model system. More specifically, he identified mediators of miRNA A- and U-tailing in C. elegans and clarified their general function in the decay of miRNAs. During his time in the McJunkin lab, he learned about basic worm husbandry, manipulation (microinjections and freeze-cracking), transgenics (Mos1 transposon-mediated single copy or CRISPR/Cas9mediated transgenesis) and collection of different tissues and developmental stages. He expanded his microscopy, genetic, genomic and transcriptomic skillset, learning and applying methods of modular cloning (golden gate and SapTrap cloning), molecular assays (genotyping, RNA isolation, immunofluorescence, fluorescent in-situ hybridization) and high-throughput sequencing (small RNAseq an Nano3P-seq). In 2023, Karl-Frédéric received a prestigious MOSAIC K99/R00 Award, further supporting his transition into an independent scientist, and now his research, as he establishes his new lab at WPI. He will continue to leverage the oocyte-to-embryo transition in C. elegans to investigate RNA modifications and translational regulation, focusing on RNA tailing by terminal nucleotidyl transferases, their role on RNA stability and translation at the molecular level, and in fertility at the physiological level.
PUBLICATIONS
- F. Donnelly, B. Yang, A. Grimme, K.-F. Vieux, C.-Y. Liu, L. Zhou, K. McJunkin. The developmentally-timed of an essential microRNA family is seed sequence-dependent. Cell Rep. 2022 Aug 9;40(6):111154. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111154.
- -F. Vieux*, K. Prothro*, Leanne Kelley, C. Palmer, I. Veksler-Lublinsky, Eleanor Maine, K. McJunkin. Screening by deep sequencing reveals mediators of miRNA tailing in C. elegans. Nucleic Acid Res. 2021 Nov 8;49-(19):11167-11180. doi:10.1093/nar/gkab840.
*equal contributions
- -F. Vieux & H.J. Clarke. CNOT6 regulates a novel pattern of mRNA deadenylation during oocyte maturation. Sci Rep. 2018 May 1;8(1):6812. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25187-0.
- J. Clarke & K.-F. Vieux. Epigenetic inheritance through the female germ- line: The known, the unknown, and the possible. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2015 Jul;43:106-116. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.20-15.07.003.
- W. Yoon, M. Gallant, M. Lamm, S. Iannaccone, K.- F. Vieux, M. Proytcheva, E. Hyjek, P.M. Iannaccone. Non- canonical regulation of the Hedgehog mediator GLI1 by c- MYC in Burkitt Lymphoma. Mol. Cancer Res. 2013 Jun;11(6):604-15. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-12-0441.