Date of birth: 03/27/1966; Nationality: French
Researcher unique identifier: ORCID 0000-0002-3863-5613
Contribution to synthetic organic chemistry: I pioneered the development of reversible amides acting as acyl donors in water and enabling the total chemical synthesis of proteins under redox control (Chem. Rev. 2019 DOI, Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2020 DOI, Acc. Chem. Res. 2022 DOI, co-foundation of XProChem).
Contribution to chemical biology & protein therapeutic design: I contributed to the understanding of hepatocyte growth factor/MET receptor activation determinants using chemical biology approaches. This knowledge enabled the design of a strong MET agonist currently developed for regenerative medicine, in collaboration with E. Gherardi’s team in Pavia, Italy (Chem. Sci. 2015 DOI, Life Sci. Alliance 2022 DOI)
Contribution to micro-nanotechnologies: I contributed to the development of ligation chemistries enabling the synthesis of conjugates, the attachment of peptides to surfaces and the design of peptide/protein-based micro-nanosystems (Bioconjugate Chem. 2004 DOI, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2004 DOI, co-foundation of Innobiochips)
EDUCATION
2000 Habilitation thesis to supervise research.
1994 PhD “Total synthesis of cortisone”. University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
1989 Master « Organocuprate chemistry ». University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
1989 Engineer from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, France.
CURRENT POSITION
Since 2006. Director of Research at CNRS working as team leader.
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2002-2006 Team leader, Pasteur Institute of Lille, France
1996-2002 CNRS researcher, Pasteur Institute of Lille, France
1994-1996 Post-doc “Design of b-turn mimetics”, Pasteur Institute of Lille, France
1990-1994 PhD at Roussel-Uclaf (now Sanofi), Romainville, France
1989-1990 Engineer at the Central Commission of Nuclear Energy (CEA), Bruyère-le-Chatel, France.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2014 Grand Valorization Prize received from the Société Industrielle du Nord de France (SINF)
2013 Innovation trophy from Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI)
CREATION OF START-UPS
2012 Co-founder of XProChem. http://xprochem.com/fr/
2008 Co-founder of Innobiochips. http://www.innobiochips.fr/
MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
Since 2021 Board member of the European Peptide Society (French representative)
Since 2021 Board member of the French peptide & protein society (GFPP)
PARTICIPATION TO EDITORIAL BOARDS
Since 2022 Biopolymers
Since 2013 International Journal of Peptide Therapeutics
SELECTION OF FIVE RECENT PUBLICATIONS
| 1 | Desmet, R., Boidin-Wichlacz, C., Mhidia, R., Tasiemski, A., Agouridas, V., and Melnyk, O. (2023). An Iron-Catalyzed Protein Desulfurization Method Reminiscent of Aquatic Chemistry. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62. e202302648. DOI A novel method for effecting the selective desulfurization of cysteine at the protein level, using an iron-catalyzed process reminiscent of aquatic chemistry. Hot Paper. |
| 2 | Ollivier, N., Sénéchal, M., Desmet, R., Snella, B., Agouridas, V., and Melnyk, O. (2022). A biomimetic electrostatic assistance for guiding and promoting N-terminal protein chemical modification. Nat. Commun. 13. 66667. DOI We achieved outstanding accelerations for peptide bond formation by engineering electrostatic interactions in the peptide reactants. |
| 3 | Snella, B.; Grain, B.; Vicogne, J.; Capet, F.; Melnyk, O.; Agouridas, V. (2022) Fast protein modification in the nanomolar concentration range using an oxalyl amide as latent thioester. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 61, e202204992. DOI Inspired by the very high reactivity of some cell metabolites, this work has potentially significant implications for the accelerated production of conjugates of medical interest. Hot Paper. |
| 4 | Agouridas, V.; Ollivier, N.; Vicogne, J.; Diemer, V.; Melnyk, O.c Redox-controlled chemical protein synthesis: sundry shades of latency. Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 2685-2697. DOI An account of our work on the chemical synthesis of proteins using redox controlled chemical systems. |
| 5 | Diemer, V.; Ollivier, N.; Leclercq, B.; Drobecq, H.; Vicogne, J.; Agouridas, V.; Melnyk, O. (2020) A cysteine selenosulfide redox switch for protein chemical synthesis. Nat. Commun. 11, 2558. DOI – We designed a redox-controlled cysteine surrogate facilitating the chemical synthesis of complex protein scaffolds such as cyclic proteins. Article highlighted by the Editors of Nature Communications. |