Dr. Sandrine Etienne-Manneville is a Research Director at CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) and leads the Laboratory for Cell Polarity, Migration And Cancer at Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. She is a cell biologist well-known for major discoveries in the elucidation of polarity signaling and, more recently, cytoskeletal crosstalk and its role in cell mechanics. After earning a PhD at the Institut Cochin, Paris on lymphocyte migration across the blood brain barrier and completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Pr. Alan Hall’s lab in London, working on RhoGTPases in astrocyte polarization and migration, she obtained a research position at the Institut Curie in 2004. She moved in 2026 to Institut Pasteur, Paris to lead her own team. The team's focus is on the molecular mechanisms controlling the migration and invasion of normal and tumoral cells. Dr. Etienne-Manneville’s research explores the regulation of cell polarity, the impact of cell-ECM and cell-cell interactions, and the role of the cytoskeleton and cytoskeletal crosstalk in cell mechanics and mechanotransduction during cell invasion through complex, mechanically challenging environments. The team was the first to demonstrate the essential role of microtubules and intermediate filaments in cell polarization, adhesion, mechanotransduction, and directed migration, as well as in glioblastoma invasion. Currently, Dr. Etienne-Manneville investigates the mechanisms underlying glioblastoma invasion and therapeutic resistance—key factors contributing to the relapse of these incurable brain tumors affecting both children and adult.