Sabine Costagliola PhD

Sabine Costagliola completed a PhD in immunology at the Aix-Marseille University II (France) in 1991 under the supervision of Pr Pierre Carayon. During her thesis, she studied the TSH and its receptor with monoclonal antibodies. She then joined the IRIBHM at Brussels (ULB)  and the laboratory of Gilbert Vassart where she generated the first murine model of Graves Disease (an autominnune thyroid disease). This achievement was the result of an innovative protocol of genetic immunization using cDNA coding for human TSHR for immunization, allowing production of antibodies recognizing in vivo native epitopes at the surface of TSHR. Those antibodies were able to mimic the TSHR stimulating activity observed in patients with Graves disease. Monoclonal antibodies derived from those immunizations are now part of a commercial assay (Thermo ScientificB·R·A·H·M·S TRAK human assay) used for Graves disease diagnostic.

Sabine Costagliola completed a new PhD in Biomedical Science at ULB in 2000 and obtained a permanent position at FNRS as Research Associate.  Besides those studies related to thyroid autoimmunity, Sabine Costagliola was also interested in studying the mechanisms of activation of the glycoprotein hormone receptors (GPHR), mainly the TSH receptor but also the FSH receptor, for which her lab described the first mutation in FSHR leading to ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

Progressively, she moved her scientific interest towards thyroid development and established zebrafish and stem cell models to recapitulate thyroid morphogenesis in vivo and in vitro with tractable models. In 2012,this innovative approach resulted in a major publication describing the first model of in vitro generation of a functional thyroid from mouse embryonic stem cells. in 2022, she published the first model of thyroid-hormone-producing human thyroid organoids generated from human embryonic stem cells  This work represents a milestone in thyroid research.