CV Science

Nicolas Tchitchek Associate Professor in Systems Immunology

Course and current status

• Since Sep. 2019: Associate Professor in Systems Immunology
  • i3 research unit, Hospital of the Pitié-Salpêtrière – Sorbonne University, Paris, France
    Research topic: "Immune dysregulations in autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases"
• Apr. 2014 – Apr. 2019: Postdoctoral Researcher in Systems Vaccinology
  • IDMIT research centre, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
    Research topic: "Diversity of cell populations in vaccination and HIV inflammation"
• Feb. 2012 – Mar. 2014: Postdoctoral Researcher in Systems Virology
  • Laboratory of Prof. Michael Katze, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
    Research topic: "Kinetics of -omics host-responses to influenza and HFV"
• Dec. 2011: Ph.D. in Systems Biology
  • Systems Epigenomics Group, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette, France
    Research topic: "Transcriptomic biomarkers associated with HCV progression in liver-transplanted patients"

Scientific summary

I completed my Ph.D. in Systems Biology (Oct. 2008 – Dec. 2011), under the joint supervision of Dr. Annick Lesne and Dr. Arndt Benecke, within the Systems Epigenomics Group at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette (Paris suburbs). My research focused there on the design of systems biology approaches for the analysis and interpretation of transcriptomic data. Mainly, I applied my research to identify transcriptomic biomarkers associated with the progression of HCV in liver-transplanted patients.

To investigate the transcriptomic and proteomic host responses induced by viral infections, I performed a postdoctoral training in Systems Virology (Feb. 2012 – Mar. 2014) within the laboratory of Prof. Michael Katze at the University of Washington in Seattle. Kinetic aspects are under-considered when characterizing the interplay between viruses and host responses. To overcome these limitations, I devised systems virology strategies for transcriptomic and proteomic analyses centered on host response kinetics. These innovations were developed in the context of: (i) mice infected with respiratory viruses; and (ii) non-human primates infected with viruses causing hemorrhagic fevers. Mainly, I demonstrated the importance of the early molecular host events to control viral infections and to regulate pathogenicity using these animal and viral models. I also pursued my research on the characterization of animal models used in biomedical research, and I worked on the annotation of the Syrian hamster transcriptome.

From April 2014 to April 2019, I was a postdoctoral researcher in Systems Vaccinology within the research unit "Immunology of viral infections and autoimmune diseases" (ImVA unit) led by Dr. Roger Le Grand at the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux énergies alternatives of Fontenay-aux-Roses. My project aimed at studying the diversity of cell populations during vaccination and HIV inflammation. In collaboration with Dr. Anne-Sophie Beignon, I applied my research works to predict optimal delays between prime and boost injections for a Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vaccine model on non-human primates. Additionally, I worked with Dr. Elisabeth Menu on metagenomic approaches to explore the diversity of vaginal and rectal microbiotas in cynomolgus macaques.

Since September 2019, I am an Associate Professor in Systems Immunology at Sorbonne University within the research unit "Immunology-Immunopathology-Immunotherapy" (i3 unit) led by Prof. David Klatzmann at the Hospital of the Pitié-Salpêtrière. I am working to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. In detail, I am developing approaches to: (i) identify biomarkers associated with disease severity; (ii) understand diseases at different complexity levels; and (iii) predict patients' responses to treatments.