CV Science

Patrick Midoux PhD Biochemistry

Course and current status

Patrick MIDOUX              

Date of Birth: 08/02/1954 (57 years old);            

Citizenship: France                       

Research Director at Inserm     

Deputy General Director of Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS UPR4301; Rue Charles Sadron 45071 Orléans cedex 2, France

E-mail : patrick.midoux@cnrs-orleans.fr            Tel: 33 (0)2 38 25 55 65

EDUCATION

1987      Doctor es Sciences (PhD equivalent), University of Orléans. Thesis title: Drug and immunomodulator targeting using monoclonal antibodies and glycoconjugates.

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Research Director Inserm at CNRS UPR4301, Orléans, France, 1994-present

Research Assistant Inserm at CNRS UPR4301, Orléans, France, 1985-1993

MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Deputy General Director of Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS UPR4301, 2008- 2012

Scientific team leader of “Gene transfer by synthetic vectors” (1999 - present) (15 members); Principal investigator of 32 academic grants.

PUBLICATIONS

h-index: 31; Total citations: 3100; Peer-reviewed publications: 80; Reviews: 10; book Chapters 14 ; Patents : 8;  ; Invited conferences: 9

RESEARCH FORMATION.

SUPERVISOR of 15 PhD students and 10 PostDoc. REPORTS OF PhD DEFENSES: 14; Reports of Habilitation to direct research (HDR): 2

MAJOR COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS.

- INSERM: 2008-2012; Elected Member at Scientific committee #7; CNRS: 2006 -2008: Member at the Laboratory and Scientific Committees of UPR4301.

- French Fundation for Myopathies Association Française contre les Myopathes (AFM). 2010-2014 Member at Scientific Council of the “Gene and-or Cell therapy of rare disorders” committee; Member at the Committee for General Overview of the AFM Strategic and Therapeutic Development (COSET) (2010-2013):

- National Ligue of Cancer (Ligue Nationale contre le cancer): 2008-2011; Member at the Committee for Project Evaluation.

- INCa (National Institute of cancer): 2006 ; Member of the Committee for project evaluation : Projets libres et réseaux structurants en Biologie du cancer dans la commission « Technologies innovantes en imagerie et radiothérapie »

- French Medical Research Council: 2009; Member at the Steering Committee of the call « Les recherches sur les cellules iPS comme modèles physiopathologiques ou outils de criblage de molécules thérapeutiques.

- ANR: 2009; Member at the Evaluation Committee of ANR EmergenceBio.

- University of Nice: 2009; Member at the Committee of the Recruitment Selection for Professor # 32.

- University of Orléans:

2009: President at the Committee of the Recruitment Selection for Assistant Professor # 64 -65.

2009: Membre du Comité scientifique disciplinaire

2006-2008: Member of Selection Committee # 64-65.

 - AERES: 2008-2011: Member at 4 Evaluation Committees.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES:

Master of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Univ Orléans; Master of Biological and Medical Sciences, Univ Paris VI  ; Master Biotechnologies, Univ Jagiellonian, Cracovie (Poland); Master Biotechnologies, Univ Zagreb (Croatia)..

EDITORIAL ACTIVITY

Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Gene medicine (2003-present); Human Gene Therapy (2009-present); Bioconjugate Chemistry (1998-2002).

MEMBER OF THE BOARD of the French Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (2008-2012 ).

Scientific summary

My research activities concern the vectorisation of nucleic acids by non-viral delivery systems allowing the transfection of target cells. I  have an outstanding expertise in nucleic acids vectorisation based on the use histidine-rich cationic polymers and cationic lipids to form DNA-nanoparticles. The major novelties concerning vectors for transfection are i) Histidinylated l-polyethyleneimine, ii) lipophosphoramidates containing imidazolium and histidine and iii) the design of an optimized DNA sequence (3NF) allowing NFκB-mediated nuclear import of plasmid DNA. These innovations represent a major advance in the field. By using those vectors, we have obtained very promising results for two in vivo applications: i) cancer vaccination by transfer of mRNA encoding tumor antigen and ii) Achilles tendon healing by gene transfer. Lastly, a novel method using ultrasounds and gas microbubbles so called sonoporation has been developed for the delivery of drugs and genes. A novel project was started to design undamaged and damaged DNA substrates capable to reach the cell nucleus and to act as a decoy oligonucleotide to define cellular mechanisms of MisMatch Repair system signaling. During this period, the team has acquired a strong expertise in intracellular trafficking investigations of DNA-nanoparticles by cell imaging. For the first time, we have visualized the nuclear import of a plasmid DNA and quantified the number copies in the nucleus of transfected cells.