CV Science

franck peiretti PhD Biochemistry

Course and current status

Education :

2007 : Accreditation to supervise research - Speciality Biochemistry, Université d’Aix-Marseille II, France

 1997 : PhD degree in “Molecular and cellular aspects of nutrition”, Université d’Aix-Marseille III, France.

Current Position :

November 1999 - Present : Senior researcher at U626 INSERM/Universitéde la Méditerranée Marseille, France. Laboratory of Pr. Marie Christine Alessi.

Former positions :

April 1997 - November 1999 : Post-doc in the laboratory for the study of mRNA Translation. University of California Davis, School of Medicine, Department of Biological Chemistry (Davis, USA). Laboratory of J.W.B Hershey.

Scientific summary

Role of metalloproteases in adipose tissue development

Our work focuses on the role of metalloproteinase in the regulation of adipocyte differentiation, adipose tissue plasticity and insulin sensitivity.

Three lines of research are pursued:

-How metalloproteinase and their inhibitors are involved in adipocytes differentiation? This aspect refers to our seminal work showing that TIMP3 is an inhibitor of adipocyte differentiation.

-Is it possible to artificially change the adipocyte differentiation so that the development of adipose tissue and insulin sensitivity are altered? This approach uses a new metalloproteinase inhibitor that we have recently developed which allows increasing adipocyte differentiation and fat volume in animals.

-Is the insulin response controlled by the shedding of the insulin receptor (IR)? The ectodomain of the IR, likely generated by a metalloprotease activity, retains its ability to bind insulin and is detected in the plasma of patients with diabetes. We want to identify the metalloproteinase responsible for the IR cleavage and evaluate its relevance as a therapeutic target for developing strategies to increase insulin sensitivity.

We anticipate that our studies will provide interesting new insights into the role of metaloproteinases in adipose tissue development and we hope that they will help devise new approaches to fighting insulin resistance.