Professor Houart completed her undergraduate and PhD studies at the University of Brussels where she studied hepatic gene regulation in development and cancer. She moved to work in developmental neurobiology during her postdoctoral training in the United States in the mid-1990s, where she became a pioneer in studying the early regionalisation of the forebrain using the zebrafish as a model.
She started her laboratory at King’s College London in 2001 where her team continued deciphering the mechanism controlling telencephalic fate specification in zebrafish and mouse. These studies are currently exploring the impact of temporal control of signalling activity in regulation of telencephalic size. Her lab is now also focussing its effort in understanding the non-nuclear role of RNA processing proteins in development and maintenance of neurites and synapses. Professor Houart is recognised as an international outstanding expert in early vertebrate brain development.
Professor Houart has accepted a University leadership role in 2011, heading the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at KCL until summer 2014 and heading KCL Neuroscience Research committee since.
