Antoine Stier
PhD
Ecophysiology; Ageing; Metabolism; Birds
I conducted my PhD in Ecophysiology at the
University of Strasbourg
(2010-2013), working on the relationships between mitochondrial function, oxidative stress and animal life histories.
As a side-project of my PhD, I demonstrated that avian
red blood cells possess functional mitochondria (Stier et al. 2013 Front. Zool.). Building
on this finding, I developed collaborations with the French Polar Institute
(2013-14) and the University of Aberdeen to use avian red blood cells to
study mitochondrial function in non-model and wild animals. I then moved to the University of Angers for a Research and Teaching position (2014-2015), where I was in charge of teaching Animal
Biology and Ecology. I developed a research project linking environmental
constraints to accelerated ageing in a reptile species.
I was then able to secure a Marie Curie fellowship (2016-17) to work as a Research Fellow at
the University of Glasgow on the impact of pre-natal environmental
conditions on ageing rate, using Japanese quail as a model species.
I moved to the University
of Turku in 2018 where I work as a TCSM Research Fellow (2018-2021). I am investigating the importance
of early-life hormonal exposure (stress and thyroid hormones) in determining
mitochondrial function and telomere dynamics during development and later in
life, using wild birds (king penguin and passerine
species).
My research is at the
crossroad between physiology, ecology and gerontology. I am broadly interested
in the physiological mechanisms contributing to the ageing process and their
implication in shaping organism’s phenotype from the conception to the death. My
research focus on the contribution of mitochondrial function, oxidative stress,
stress hormones and telomere dynamics as proximate mechanisms shaping health,
ageing and life histories. I use mainly bird species as models, both in
captivity and in their natural environment
2019: Supervision of Coline Marciau (Pre-PhD funding, University of Turku)
2019: Supervision of two MSc
student projects (University of Turku,
Finland)
2017-2020: PhD co-supervision of Tiia
Kärkkäinen (University of Turku)
of two BSc student projects (University of Turku,
Finland)
lecture in Animal Physiology (3rd BSc
year, University of Glasgow, UK)
of two MSc and one BSc student projects (University of Glasgow, UK)
in Zoology, Ecology and Behavioural Ecology and (100 contact hours: 1st BSc year, 2nd BSc
year, 1st MSc year, University of Angers, France)
of two MSc student projects (University of
Angers, France)
of one PhD chapter (Universities of
Angers and Toulon, France)
in Zoology and Applied Ecology (90 contact hours:
1st BSc & MSc years, University of Angers)
course of Ecology and Lecture in Biodiversity (30 contact hours: 2nd BSc year, 2nd MSc
year, University of Strasbourg, France)
in Zoology and Behavioural Ecology (60 contact hours:
1st BSc & MSc years, University of Strasbourg, France)
of three MSc student projects (University of
Strasbourg, France)
in Behavioural Ecology (40 contact hours:
1st and 2nd MSc years, University of Strasbourg)
of two MSc student projects (University of Strasbourg,
France)
in Zoology and Ethology (60 contact hours: 1st and 2nd
BSc years, University of Strasbourg)
- Investigating how telomere dynamics, growth and life history covary along an elevation gradient in two passerine species (2016)
- Journal of Avian Biology
- Mutually honest? Physiological "qualities' signalled by colour ornaments in monomorphic king penguins (2016)
- Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
- The oxidative debt of fasting: evidence for short- to medium-term costs of advanced fasting in adult king penguins (2016)
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- Oxidative stress and life histories: unresolved issues and current needs (2015)
- Ecology and Evolution
- Red blood cells open promising avenues for longitudinal studies of ageing in laboratory, non-model and wild animals (2015)
- Experimental Gerontology
- Starting with a handicap: effects of asynchronous hatching on growth rate, oxidative stress and telomere dynamics in free-living great tits (2015)
- Oecologia
- Chronic mitochondrial uncoupling treatment prevents acute cold-induced oxidative stress in birds (2014)
- Journal of Comparative Physiology B
- Elevation impacts the balance between growth and oxidative stress in coal tits (2014)
- Oecologia
- Litter size manipulation in laboratory mice: an example of how proteomic analysis can uncover new mechanisms underlying the cost of reproduction (2014)
- Frontiers in Zoology
- Mitochondrial uncoupling as a regulator of life-history trajectories in birds: an experimental study in the zebra finch (2014)
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- Mitochondrial uncoupling prevents cold-induced oxidative stress: a case study using UCP1 knockout mice (2014)
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- Short- and long-term effects of litter size manipulation in a small wild-derived rodent (2014)
- Biology Letters
- Starting with a handicap: phenotypic differences between early- and late-born king penguin chicks and their survival correlates (2014)
- Functional Ecology
- Stress hormones in relation to breeding status and territory location in colonial king penguin: a role for social density? (2014)
- Oecologia
- Avian erythrocytes have functional mitochondria, opening novel perspectives for birds as animal models in the study of ageing (2013)
- Frontiers in Zoology
- Catching-up but telomere loss: half-opening the black box of growth and ageing trade-off in wild king penguin chicks (2012)
- Molecular Ecology
- Constraint and cost of oxidative stress on reproduction: correlative evidence in laboratory mice and review of the literature (2012)
- Frontiers in Zoology