Ludger Johannes Research Director Cell Biology
Course and current status
• 2001-ongoing Head of Traffic, Signaling and Delivery Laboratory at Curie Institute
• 2005 Co-founder of ShigaMediX (spin-off from Curie Institute): New product in immunotherapy
• 1997-2000 Project leader (Curie Institute, Paris): Shiga toxin as a tool to dissect pathways and mechanisms in membrane trafficking at the endosomes-TGN interface
• 1996-1997 Post-doctoral stay in the laboratory of Bruno Goud (Curie Institute, Paris): Study of the regulation of retrograde Golgi-to-ER transport by the GTPase Rab6
• 1993-1995 Thesis work in the laboratory of Jean-Pierre Henry (Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris): Role of the GTPase Rab3a in calcium-dependent exocytosis
Scientific summary
Ludger Johannes is Research Director at INSERM. Since 2001, he is heading the Traffic, Signaling and Delivery Group in the Cell Biology Department (UMR144 CNRS) of the Curie Institute. His research aims at establishing fundamental concepts of endocytosis and intracellular trafficking. The Johannes group has made two major contributions in this context: the discovery of retrograde trafficking between the early endosome and the Golgi apparatus, and the demonstration that dynamic protein-induced glycosphingolipid clustering acts as a driving force for coat-independent membrane invagination in clathrin-independent endocytosis. These studies have been published in high-ranking journals (Cell, Nature, Dev Cell, Nat Cell Biol, J Cell Biol, …). LJ is appointed member of the bureau of Study Section 23 of CNRS. LJ also aims at exploiting these discoveries in fundamental membrane biology for the development of innovative cancer therapy strategies. His basic studies have allowed him to validate the B-subunit of Shiga toxin (STxB) as an "intracellular pilot" for the delivery of therapeutic principles to precise intracellular locations of dendritic and tumor cells (7 patent families, 4 of which are delivered in the US, Europe and other countries). These findings are the basis for a translational research program on intracellular delivery that he coordinates at the Curie Institute. They are exploited in collaboration with biotech companies.
