Scientific topics
Keywords
Hélène Munier-Lehmann Bacterial enzymes involved in nucleoside metabolism
Course and current status
Education
2003 Habilitation à diriger les recherches (Paris VII University, France).
1992 PhD in Biochemistry option Microbiology (Paris VII University, France).
1989 M. Sc. in Microbiology (Paris VII University, France). Certificate of General Virology, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France.
1988 Chemical Engineer from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, France.
Positions
Since 1997 Research associate, INSERM, Institut Pasteur, Paris
Structural and functional analysis of nucleoside metabolism enzymes from pathogens and search of specific inhibitors for the development of new antibacterial agents.
In charge of the screening platform “Criblage Biologique et Chimiothèques” set up in 2007.
1993-1996 Post-doctoral fellow at EMBL (Heidelberg, Germany) in the Cell Biology Program (group of B. Hoflack). EMBO fellowship for two years followed by a one year fellowship from the institution “Vaincre les maladies lysosomales”.
Function of the two mannose-6 phosphate receptors in lysosomal transport.
1989-1992 PhD thesis, Unit of Biochemistry of Cellular Regulations (supervisor: O. Barzu) at Institut Pasteur, Paris. BDI fellowship from CNRS.
Structure-function relationships of Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase: biochemical and physico-chemical analysis of interaction of B. pertussis adenylate cyclase with its ligands ATP and calmodulin.
Scientific summary
The major axis of my research deals with the study of enzymes belonging to the nucleoside metabolism. I have chosen essential bacterial enzymes as novel targets in the search of new antimicrobial agents. All the selected enzymes were annotated as putative enzymes at the beginning of my work. The aim was to characterize these enzymes and to identify specific inhibitors using a structure-based approach. The human counterparts were included for comparative analysis.
The second aspect of my research concerns the screening of chemical libraries for my own projects or for collaborative programs. The screening platform was set up in 2007 and its activity is mainly devoted to anti-infectious projects. Since then, more than twenty campaigns have been performed covering various biological areas in the field of anti-infectious and anti-cancer agents. Hits in each project were validated in secondary assays and confirmed hits are currently under investigation in SAR studies.
