CV Science

Paulo De Sepulveda PhD

Course and current status

• Head of the Signaling, Hematopoiesis Laboratory at CRCM (Centre de Recherche en Cancerologie de Marseille). The group is composed of 2 Inserm scientists, 2 Technicians, 1 postdoctoral fellow, 4 PhD students. Our reserach is financed by Fondation ARC, Cancéropole PACA, Fondation Leucémie Espoir.

           Identification and characterization of vulerabilities in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and

           Mastocytosis.

• INSERM Scientist since 2000, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille

            Signaling downstream of activated RTK receptors; CDK6,  Fes and Fer kinases

• 1999-2000 Postdoc at INSERM U199 in Marseille, France

            Socs proteins and KIT signaling

• 1996-1999 Postdoc at Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, Canada

            Cloning and characterization of Socs1, a negative regulator of signaling

• 1991-1996 PhD thesis University Paris 7.

            Genetics and developmental biology

• 1990-91 Master in Developmental Biology, U. of Paris, Institut Pasteur.

            Nobel price, François Jacob Laboratory

Expertise

Fondation ARC, CN4, 2023-now 

Postes accueil INSERM 2022

Member of the committee Ligue Contre le Cancer Ile-de-France 2014-2021

Member of the committee -Plan Cancer “Formation à la recherche translationnelle” 2014-2019

Member of the LIF panel, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships

Master committee “Développement et Immunologie”, Aix-Marseille University

Scientific summary

Characterization of kinases involved in cell transformation

Protein Kinases are promising therapeutic targets in cancer. While a lot of attention is focused on few well characterized oncogenes/oncoproteins, we postulate that pathologic signalling is still largely unknown and as a consequence a number of essential targets are currently ignored.

Over the last few years, we have performed screens aiming at identify original novel essential effectors of signalling pathways downstream of oncogenic KIT and FLT3 receptors.

Our objectives are to identify, characterize and exploit novel potential therapeutic targets.

Our favorite models are Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Mastocyrosis and Melanoma.

Current projects involve the study of the protein kinases CDK6, FES and FER in normal physiology and cancer context. We characterize the function of these proteins and implement translationnal projects using primary samples from patients and preclinical mouse PDX models.

Tumor heterogeneity and protection of cancer cells by the microenvironment are the main causes of resistance to treatments and relapse. Therefore future therapies should target various genetic clones as well as cancer stem cells. Our research includes the identification of combined targeted therapies showing unique features to address these problems