Dr. Luc Vallières is Director of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Laval University and a researcher in neuroimmunology in the Neuroscience Unit at the CHU de Québec.

He started his career in 2002 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute in California in the field of postnatal neurogenesis (1998-2001). This training was preceded by a doctorate in physiology at Laval University (1993-1998) and a bachelor's degree in biology at the University of Quebec, Chicoutimi (1990-1993).

He is studying two diseases that affect the central nervous system: multiple sclerosis and brain cancer. His research program aims to better understand how immune cells are regulated in these diseases, in the hopes of finding a way to neutralize or stimulate them for therapeutic purposes. This program is funded by the CIHR, NSERC and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

He made a significant contribution to the field of neuroimmunology by discovering a population of immune cells that constantly patrol the cerebral vasculature and by elucidating mechanisms that govern their recruitment and function under inflammatory conditions.

His research resulted in an international patent claiming the very first drug to calmthe neutrophil, an immune cell that is normally beneficial, but that is implicated in several inflammatory diseases.

He has expertise in single-cell RNA sequencing, STED super-resolution microscopy, flow cytometry, CRISPR-Cas9 and RNA interference gene editing, as well as bone marrow transplantation.

He directs two courses called Principles of Neuroimmunology and Current Techniques in Molecular Medicine.

As external activities, he is chairing the organizing committee of the 16th Congress of the International Society of Neuroimmunology, which will take place in Quebec City in August 2023. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Mediators of Inflammation. He also serves on several committees such as the Neuroscience B committee at CIHR.