Dr Delphine Sicard

Delphine Sicard is an assistant professor in Physiology at University Sorbonne Paris Nord and works in the Hypoxia & Lung Laboratory (UMR1272) located in Bobigny, France. Her current research in the field of mechanobiology focuses on the alterations of tissue mechanical properties that drive disease development and progression such as fibrosis and cancer in lung tissue. Using AFM force spectroscopy, she developed a robust experimental method to characterize tissue stiffness at microscale and demonstrated some significant mechanical changes in physiological and pathological conditions.

Her excitement about AFM comes from how a “slow” approach and a “soft” touch can probe fundamental atomic forces, opening the door to deeper insights into disease mechanisms, enhancement of diagnosis, and the development of new therapeutic approaches.

Delphine Sicard

Recent AFM-related papers:

• Al-Hilal T.A., Chrysovergi M.A., Grasberger P.E., Liu F., Auernheimer V., Zhou Y., Xiao Z., Leon-Duque M.A., Santos A., Islam T., Ligorio M., Sicard D., Probst C.K., Vrbanac V., Reddi T.S., Vincent L., Happe C., Chaum E., Yates C.R., Daneshvar K., Mullen A.C., Ting D., White E.S., Kalluri R., Woo C.M., Puré E., Goldmann W.H., Alonso J.L., Tager A.M., Engler A.J., Tschumperlin D.J. & Lagares D. (2025) Durotaxis is a driver and potential therapeutic target in lung fibrosis and metastatic pancreatic cancer Nat Cell Biol 27, 9, 1543-1554

• Sapao P., Roberson E.D.O., Shi B., Assassi S., Skaug B., Lee F., Naba A., Perez White B.E., Córdova-Fletes C., Tsou P.S., Sawalha A.H., Gudjonsson J.E., Ma F., Verma P., Bhattacharyya D., Carns M., Strauss J.F. 3rd, Sicard D., Tschumperlin D.J., Champer M.I., Campagnola P.J., Teves M.E. & Varga J. (2023) Reduced SPAG17 Expression in Systemic Sclerosis Triggers Myofibroblast Transition and Drives Fibrosis J Invest Dermatol 143, 2, 284-293

• Arnold K.M., Sicard D., Tschumperlin D.J. & Westendorf J.J. (2023) Atomic force microscopy micro-indentation methods for determining the elastic modulus of murine articular cartilage Sensor 23, 4, 1835

• Kostallari E., Wei B., Sicard D., Li J., Cooper S., Gao J., Dehankar M., Li Y., Cao S., Yin M., Tschumperlin D.J. & Shah S. (2022) Stiffness is associated with hepatic stellate cell heterogeneity during liver fibrosis Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 322, 2, G234-G246

• Haak A.J., Kostallari E., Sicard D., Ligresti G., Choi K.M., Caporarello N., Jones D.L., Tan Q., Meridew J., Diaz Espinosa A.M., Aravamudhan A., Maiers J.L., Britt Jr R.D., Roden A.C., Pabelick C.M., Prakash Y.S., Nouraie S.M., Li X., Zhang Y., Kass D.J., Lagares D., Tager A.M., Varelas X., Shah V.H. & Tschumperlin D.J. (2019) Selective YAP/TAZ inhibition in fibroblasts via dopamine receptor D1 agonism reverses fibrosis Sci Transl Med 11, 519, eaau6296

• Sicard D., Haak A.J., Choi K.M., Craig A.R., Fredenburgh L.E. & Tschumperlin D.J. (2018) Aging and anatomical variations in lung tissue stiffness Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 314, 6, 946-955

Biography: Formally trained as a physicist at University of Toulouse (France), Delphine obtained her PhD in physics and material sciences from Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Lyon Institute of Nanotechnology) in 2012 studying structural arrangement of biomolecular complexes using AFM imaging. In 2014, she joined Pr. Daniel Tschumperlin Lab at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) to investigate lung tissue stiffening in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. She moved back to France in 2023 at Pasteur Institute of Lille to work on airway mechanical remodelling in asthma. Since September 2024, she has been appointed as an assistant professor at University Sorbonne Paris Nord (Bobigny, France) and has joined the Hypoxia & Lung Laboratory.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/delphine-sicard-uspn

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Delphine-Sicard-3

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