CV Science

Alain EYCHENE PhD

Course and current status

Current positions:

Group leader at Institut Curie

INSERM U1021 - CNRS UMR3347

Tel: 33-1 69.86.30.74

E-mail : alain.eychene@inserm.fr

Since 2023: Deputy Director of the Cancer Thematic Institute at Inserm

2019-2022: Head of the Research & Innovation Division of the French National Cancer Institue (INCa); Director of the Cancer Thematic Institute at Inserm; Director of ITMO Cancer Aviesan

2019: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of INSB - CNRS

2019: Vice-President of “Commission Scientifique n°4” of Fondation ARC

2017-2018: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the GIS IBiSA (Infrastrutures en Biologie Sante et Agronomie)

2013-2018: Scientific Deputy Director at INSB - CNRS

2012-2018: Deputy Director of ITMO Cancer - AVIESAN

2012-2013: Délégué Scientifique Cancer à l'INSB - CNRS

2012-2018: Member of the Cancer Committee – Fondation de France

2012 - 2013 : Member of the “Commission Scientifique n°4” of Fondation ARC (Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer)

Since 2011: Member of the Steering Committee of the GMFMel (groupe multidisciplinaire français sur le mélanome cutané).

2011 - 2014: Member of the GDRI (groupement de recherche international) France Japan Cancer - CNRS

2009 - 2012 : Member of the « Commission Scientifique » of Institut Curie Research Center.

Since 2009: Member of ESPCR (European Society for Pigment Cell Research).

Education, training and employment:

2024: DRCE - INSERM

2014: DR1 - INSERM

2001: DR2 (Research Director) - Permanent position at INSERM.

2000: Group leader at Institut Curie.

1999: Formation spéciale à l’expérimentation animale (niveau I); Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort.

1998: Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches (Post-Doctoral Degree). Université Paris XI.

1995: CR1 - Permanent position at INSERM.

1991: CR2 - Permanent position at INSERM.

1986-1990: PhD in Microbiology (speciality: virology). University Paris VI.

Laboratory of Dr Calothy; CNRS URA 1443 ; Institut Curie.

1985-1986: Master’s degree in Microbiology (speciality : virology). University Paris VI. Course of General Virology, Institut Pasteur, Paris. Laboratory of Dr Scherrer; Institut Jacques Monod, Paris VII.

1984: 6-months training in the Laboratory of Dr Richaud; Institut de Microbiologie, Paris XI.

Scientific summary

Major scientific contributions:

Alain Eychène’s lab has contributed in depicting the relationships between the components of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. Major findings include the demonstration that KSR, a distantly related member of the Raf family, modulates the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway through binding to MEK (Denouel-Galy 1998 Curr.Biol. 8:46). Alain Eychène also contributed to the identification of BRAF thanks to its retroviral transduction (Marx 1988 EMBO J. 7:3369; Eychène 1992 Oncogene 7:1315). A close collaboration with Dr Ballotti disclosed for the first time the involvement of B-Raf protein in the biology of melanocytes (Busca 2000 EMBO J., 19:2900). Using conditional knockout mice, Alain Eychène’s team recently decribed the role and the complexity of RAF signaling during melanocyte stem cells and melanoma development (Valluet 2012 Cell Rep. 2:774; Dorard 2017 Nat.Commun. 8:15262; Estrada 2022 Commun. Biol. 5:101). In addition, Alain Eychène’s lab provided major contributions in the field of MAF transcription factors, by demonstrating the importance of phosphorylation in the regulation of these oncoproteins and in their oncogenic activities (Rocques 2007 Mol.Cell 28:584; Eychène 2008 Nat.Rev.Cancer 8:683; Garancher 2018 Cancer Cell 33:435).