Biography and publications

Biography

Born in Paris on December 17 1948.

Alain Prochiantz graduated from the École normale supérieure (ENS) and obtained his doctorate from the Université Denis-Diderot in Paris. He headed the CNRS unit " development and evolution of the nervous system ", as well as the ENS biology department. After completing a thesis on the structure of messenger RNA in plant picornaviruses, Alain Prochiantz turned his attention to the study of brain morphogenesis. His major scientific contributions include the discovery of the topological heterogeneity of cerebral astrocytes and of a new mode of signaling by intercellular transfer of transcription factors of the homeoprotein class. His team is interested in the role of this signaling pathway during brain development, as well as in adults, and in the pathologies associated with its alterations. A particularly striking result is the ability to reopen periods of plasticity in the cerebral cortex by transiently blocking internalization of the Otx2 homeoprotein by interneurons in layer IV of the cerebral cortex. This reopening restored binocular vision in mice with experimental amblyopia. By analyzing the secretion and internalization mechanisms of these proteins, her team has discovered the first peptides capable of crossing cell membranes and serving as vectors for the intracellular delivery of pharmacological substances. In this vein, she is studying the possibility of using certain homeoproteins as therapeutic proteins in several pathologies, including Parkinson's disease.

Alongside his research work, Alain Prochiantz is the author of several books aimed at a wider audience. With playwright Jean-François Peyret, he has participated in the construction of plays that can be seen as attempts at the poetic manipulation of science.

At the Collège de France, he founded and directed the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Biologie, with 18 teams working in various fields of life sciences.

Alain Prochiantz was Administrator of the Collège de France from 2015 to 2019.

He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

Biography

Emeritus Professor, Collège de France
Chief Scientific Officer BrainEver SAS

After a thesis on plant messenger RNAs prepared at University Paris VII and MIT (Cambridge, USA), Alain Prochiantz joined the laboratory of Jacques Glowinski at College de France where he studied neuronal differentiation and provided the first evidence for astrocyte heterogeneity. Following a sabbatical year at NYU School of Medicine, he moved to Ecole Normale Supérieure as head of a CNRS Research Unit and, later, Department head. There, he discovered a novel signaling mechanism based on the intercellular transfer of homeoprotein transcription factors. By mapping the domain responsible for homeoprotein internalization, he played a major role in initiating the vector peptide scientific field. His laboratory has identified several functions for homeoprotein signaling, from early and late development to the regulation of cerebral cortex physiological plasticity. Member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2003, he was elected at Collège de France in 2007 where he served as Dean (2015-2019) and created the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (head: 2011-2018). The translational consequences of his work have led Alain Prochiantz to become Chief Scientific Officer of BrainEver SAS, a biotechnology company that he co-founded in 2015 to develop therapeutic homeoproteins for neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Selected bibliography

Darwin : 200 ans

Prochiantz A. (dir.), Darwin : 200 ans, Paris, Odile Jacob/Collège de France, 2010.
Qu'est-ce que le vivant ?

Prochiantz A., Qu'est-ce que le vivant ?, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, coll. « Les Livres du nouveau monde », 2012, 176 p.
Otx2 Binding to Perineuronal Nets Persistently Regulates Plasticity in the Mature Visual Cortex

Beurdeley M., Spatazza J., Lee H., Sugiyama S., Bernard C., Di Nardo A., Hensch T. et Prochiantz A., « Otx2 Binding to Perineuronal Nets Persistently Regulates Plasticity in the Mature Visual Cortex », The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 32, n° 27, 2012, p. 9429-9437.
Engrailed homeoprotein recruits the adenosine A1 receptor to potentiate ephrin A5 function in retinal growth cones

Stettler O., Joshi R.L., Wizenmann A., Reingruber J., Holcman D., Bouillot C., Castagner F., Prochiantz A. et Moya K.L., « Engrailed homeoprotein recruits the adenosine A1 receptor to potentiate ephrin A5 function in retinal growth cones », Development, vol. 139, n° 1, 2012, p. 215-24.
Choroid-Plexus-Derived Otx2 Homeoprotein Constrains Adult Cortical Plasticity

Spatazza J., Lee H.H., Di Nardo A.A., Tibaldi L., Joliot A., Hensch T.K. et Prochiantz A., « Choroid-Plexus-Derived Otx2 Homeoprotein Constrains Adult Cortical Plasticity », Cell Report, vol. 3, n° 6, 2013, p. 1815-1823.
Homeoprotein signaling in development, health, and disease: a shaking of dogmas offers challenges and promises from bench to bed

Spatazza J., Di Lullo E., Joliot A., Dupont E., Moya K.L. et Prochiantz A., « Homeoprotein signaling in development, health, and disease: a shaking of dogmas offers challenges and promises from bench to bed », Pharmacol Rev, vol. 65, n° 1, 2013, p. 90-104.
Toward libraries of biotinylated chondroitin sulfate analogues: from synthesis to in vivo studies

Despras G., Bernard C., Perrot A., Cattiaux L., Prochiantz A., Lortat-Jacob H. et Mallet J.-M., « Toward libraries of biotinylated chondroitin sulfate analogues: from synthesis to in vivo studies », Chemistry, vol. 19, n° 2, 2013, p. 531-540.

Biography

Biography

Selected bibliography

Research center

Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB)