CV Science

yves collette PhD Molecular Biology

Course and current status

PhD Biologist in Virology by training at the Free University of Bruxelles in Belgium (1994), I completed a post-doctoral internship in Onco-immunology in Marseille (D. Olive’s Lab) with the support of an European Community Fellowship and was then recruited as researcher (CR2) by INSERM in 1998. In 2007/2008 I was appointed DR2 by Inserm and went laureate for a hospital interface contract with Institut Paoli Calmettes (IPC, Centre de Lutte Contre le Cancer). Currently co-head of the Integrated Structural and Chemical Biology (ISCB) Team at the Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Marseille (CRCM, an INSERM/CNRS/AMU/IPC Research Center), head of the TrGET Preclinical Platform, I am also the Coordinator of the CRCM/IPC CoreTech technological resources (18 platforms) and Scientific Coordinator for the CRCM (420 research staff members).

Scientific summary

The "Integrative Structural and Chemical Biology" (ISCB) team that I co-direct with X. Morelli develops and integrates innovative approaches in chemoinformatics, structural biology, biophysics, chemistry-biology and preclinical studies in order to define, identify, characterise and target protein-protein interactions (PPI) in oncology. The tools generated (databases, algorithms, integrated processes, PPI-focused chemical libraries, validated therapeutic targets, preclinical in vitro and in vivo models) are exploited both to better understand the fundamental aspects of systems biology and to act on these mechanisms in a therapeutic perspective applied to oncology and more specifically in models of acute leukaemia. In the context of this transdisciplinary team, my own activities have been :

- to identify and/or validate new therapeutic targets,

- identify and/or validate new bioactive molecules and/or therapeutic approaches,

- developing new preclinical evaluation technologies and original experimental models,

- to update the molecular basis of physio-pathological mechanisms,

- to set up an original Drug Sensitivity/Resistance Profiling platform with several fundamental, translational and clinical applications (including therapeutic choice orientation for refractory/relapse leukemia patients).

In addition to the set up of the "TrGET » preclinical platform, my activities also led to the creation of two other technological platforms (DoSynth, an organic synthesis platform, and HiTS, a screening platform), which recently led me to coordinate the grouping of the 18 CRCM and IPC platforms into a « CoreTech ». As part of the activities of my Contrat d’Interface vers l’hôpital with IPC, I put my skills at the service of a basic science -> translational -> clinical research continuum and promote our organisation towards local, regional, national and international academic and industrial partnerships ("IPC-CRCM Drug Discovery & Development" Program).