CV Science

Patrick AUBERGER Cell Death, Differentiation, Inflammation and Cancer

Course and current status

CURICULUM VITAE of Patrick Auberger

Date of Birth    December 16, 1957, Annecy, Haute-Savoie (74), France

Education

1983:                PhD in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UNS

1994:                HDR: Enabling for Research Management, UNS

Nationality       French

Professional experience

1985:                INSERM U145 Chargé de Recherche Second Class

1989:                INSERM U364 Chargé de Recherche First Class

1994:                INSERM U364 Directeur de Recherche Second Class

1997:                Head of the CJF INSERM 96.05

2000-2007         Head of INSERM Unit 526

2001:                Directeur de Recherche First Class

2003-2009         Interface Grant with the CHU

2008:                Head of Team 2, INSERM U895 (C3M)

2008:                Scientific Deputy Director of INSERM U895 (C3M)

2010:                Translational Research Hospital Contract

Institutional peer evaluation

2003-2008         Member of the INSERM Scientific Commission 2

2004-2008         Member of the Clinical Research Delegation

2001-2005         Member of the Clinical Research Commission (representing INSERM)

2002-2006         Member of the Scientific Council for Clinical Research CHU Nice

2003-2006         Member of the Scientific Committee of Biointerference (Start-Up)

Since 2005         Deputy President of the Scientific Council of the Nice Medicine Faculty

Since 2005         Member of the INCA Scientific Council

Since 2008         Member of the Scientific Council of the LNCC           

Since 2008         President of the Scientific Advisory Board of INSERM U866

Since 2010         Member of the Scientific Council of the Nice Medicine Faculty

Since 2010         Member of the Administrative Council of the Nice Medicine Faculty

Since 1989         Member of the French Society for Immunology

Since 2004         Member of the International Cell Death Society

Peer review      EMBO J, Blood, J Biol Chem, Oncogene, Faseb J, Autophagy, Cell                                   Death Diff, Leukemia, Cancer Res, BBRC, Mol Cancer Ther, JID

Edition              Senior Editor of the American Journal of Cancer Research     

Expert for         MRC, Welcome Trust, AERES, LNCC, ARC, ANR, Region

Thesis/HDR      Participation in more than 120 PhD and HDR

Distinction        Prix Joseph Amalric de la Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer 1995

Teaching           12h per year (Medical School students and Master 1/2)

Training            18 Thesis and more than 40 Master students

License             Production of an antibody directed against legumain. 2007,

                         DVTT N° 05213

Scientific summary

Our  project iinclude  three  main topics. In the first one, we will continue to explore the mechanisms of resistance to TKI in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). Several candidate proteins involved in resistance have been identified and the role of Fyn, Axl, Erk1/2, SPARC and Itgb3 will be more specially investigated in cell lines and primary cell from CML patients. In addition, our recent findings strongly suggest that targeting autophagy is an original and novel therapeutic avenue for this disease and other hematopoietic malignancies. In this context, we have identified compounds including Resveratrol, Acadesine and original analogues of Acadesine (ongoing license) that are able to eradicate TKI-resistant CML cells. The molecular mechanisms highlighting the effect of these agents will be determined. Our goal is to propose in a near future, clinical trials in CML using such compounds that are currently tested clinically for other tumoral and non-tumoral pathologies. Interestingly, both molecules behave as metabolic stress-inducing agents and their implication in the AMPK/mTORC pathway will be analyzed (Grant PLBioINCA 2011-2013). In addition, as AMPK is a universal inductor of autophagy we will also investigate the role of autophagy in physiological hematopoietic cell differentiation. Several lines of evidence support a crucial role for autophagy in erythroid differentiation and we reported recently that autophagy is important for megakaryocytic differentiation of the K562 CML cell line. The role of autophagy and cathepsins, a family of cystein proteinase involved in the regulation of autophagy will therefore be analyzed during erythroid and megakaryocytic differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells. The second aspect of our project is devoted to analyze the role of Lyn in keratinocyte biology and psoriasis. The main tasks of this axis will be to i) validate LynDN mice as a new model of psoriasis, ii) characterize Lyn cleavage and caspase activation in keratinocytes in vitro, iii) uncover the molecular mechanisms responsible for psoriasis in LynDN mice, iv) evaluate Lyn  expression and cleavage in human psoriasis and v) analyze the immune system of LynDN mice. Finally, the third topic of our poject deciphers the role of Bcl-B in the physiopathology of B cells and plasma cells. The recent production by our Team of an EmBcl-B transgenic mice model that recapitulates the main features of multiple myeloma was a pre-requisite to study the physiological role of this protein. Moreover, the function of Bcl-B as an inhibitor of both apoptosis and autophagy will be also evaluated. Finally the possibility to shift Bcl-B activity from an antiapoptotic to a proapoptotic function with specific small peptides will be used in order to validate new potential therapeutic strategies in MM.