CV Science

Prisca Boisguerin Ph.D. Biochemistry

Course and current status

Academic Degrees

2013: Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches (HDR), University of Montpellier, France.

2000-2004: Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité, Berlin, Germany (Adivisor: Pr. Jens Schneider-Mergener and Pr. Hartmut Oschkinat)

Appointments

Since 2021: Member of the INSERM Team N°4, "Development of the visceral smooth muscle and Associated Pathologies". Physiology and Experimental Biology of Heart and Muscles (PHYMEDEXP), INSERM U1046, CNRS UMR 9214 CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. Director: Dr. Alain Lacampagne.

2015-2020: Team leader, "Peptide-based vectors for therapeutic delivery", Centre de Recherche de Biologie cellulaire de Montpellier (CRBM), CNRS-UMR 5237, Montpellier, France. Director: Dr. Anne Debant

Since Oct 2012: CR1, Centre de Recherche de Biologie cellulaire de Montpellier (CRBM), CNRS-UMR 5237, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France. Director: Dr. Anne Debant

2009 – 2012: PostDoc, Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques (DIMNP), CNRS-UMR 5235, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier,France. Director: Dr. Catherine Braun-Breton.

2005 – 2008: PostDoc, Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité, Berlin, Germany. Director: Pr. Hans-Dieter Volk

Honors and Awards

2011-2012         Postdoctoral grant of the "Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale"

2008-2010         Habilitation grant, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

2000-2002         PhD grant of the “Fond des Verbandes der Chemischen Industrie e.V.”

Scientific summary

The dissection of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) implicated in signaling cascades by different techniques (in silico, genetic or biochemical) has demonstrated a direct correlation between various PPIs and different human pathologies. Thus, specific PPI inhibitors appear as a new class of drugs with many potential applications in fundamental research and in clinics. The main focus of our research is the establishment of an innovative strategy to develop therapeutic peptides (= interfering peptides) as PPI inhibitors using our know-how in peptide library screening by the SPOT technology combined with cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) as vectorization methodology. This approached was successfully applied in the context of different pathologies such myocardial infarction and cystic fibrosis.

Cell-Penetrating Peptides (CPPs) represent a promising approach opening new perspectives also for nucleic acid delivery (siRNA, mRNA, pDNA, etc). CPPs can be subdivided into two main classes, the first requires chemical linkage with the cargo and the second involves the formation of stable, non-covalent complexes. Both of them were successfully used at preclinical or clinical levels. The non-covalent strategy is based on short amphipathic peptides that form stable Peptide-Based Nanoparticles (PBN) with therapeutics without requiring any cross-linking or chemical modifications. Our main research objective will be the application of our designed PBNs in order to knock-down or overexpress specific proteins involved in the development/differentiation of smooth muscle cells of the digestif tube as well as its associated pathologies.