PROJECT PARTNERS
With strong complementarity and minimal size, the MaxImmun consortium has the agility and breadth of expertise to tackle the transdisciplinary scope of the project.
ÉCOLE NORMALE SUPÉRIEURE (FRANCE)
Brice Sperandio is immunologist at INSERM, group leader, and the MaxImmun project coordinator. He is a leader in the comprehension of the regulation of defense genes from the human innate immune response. Thanks to his expertise in genomics, epigenomics, and screening technologies, he is contributing to the project by identifying new AMP inducers from the marine microbiome, and by characterizing their action mechanisms.
HELMHOLTZ CENTER FOR INFECTION RESEARCH (GERMANY)
Mark Brönstrup is chemist, director of the Chemical Biology department, and a professor at the Leibniz University of Hannover and at the German Center for Infection Research. He led the Natural Product Sciences section at Sanofi in Frankfurt from 2005-2010. His main interests are to discover new anti-infectives, to characterize their functionality, and to optimize their properties for progression into the clinic. In MaxImmun, his contribution is to coordinate the chemical isolation of new active molecules with AMP-inducer properties, and to chemically optimize their efficacy for in vivo applications.
UPPSALA UNIVERSITY (SWEDEN)
Dan Andersson is microbiologist and the director of the Antibiotic Center. He is internationally recognized for his expertise on new antibiotics, his work to better understand antimicrobial resistance development, and his contribution to the development of faster diagnostic methods. He is supporting the project through the study of AMP resistance development in ESKAPE bacteria, thanks to its unparalleled breadth of expertise in laboratory evolution and functional metagenomics.
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTÉ ET DE LA RECHERCHE MÉDICALE (FRANCE)
Nathalie Vergnolle is pharmacologist, physiologist, and the director of the Digestive Health Research Institute (IRSD), which hosts surgeons and clinician gastroenterologists from the Gastroenterology Pole of the Toulouse hospital. She conducts high-level pharmacology and medicinal research and has a strong expertise on the pathophysiology of the human intestinal barrier, microbiota, and mucosal immunology. She is contributing to the project by characterizing properties of AMP inducers in organoids and on human intestinal microbiota biofilms, and by assessing their efficacy in pre-clinical models.
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE (FRANCE)
Ali Al-Mourabit is chemist and the former director of the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry department of the Institute for Natural Product Chemistry (ICSN), in Gif-sur-Yvette. His activities take advantages of the background related to natural products isolation to develop new molecules with application in human health. His contribution to the project is to provide access to a library of marine sponge pure molecules and synthetic derivatives, and to ensure the isolation and semi-purification of active fractions from extracts coming from marine bacteria, microalgae and sponges.
IMMUNRISE TECHNOLOGIES (FRANCE)
ImmunRise Technologies is a biotech company with a strong experience in the screening and exploitation of the marine microbiome as a new source of molecules for the development of innovative solutions to boost the host-defense mechanisms, in plants and humans. The company is taking part to the project by the screening of its large collection of marine microorganisms to identify new AMP inducers, and by valorizing the high-valuable potential of these molecules in human health.
EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD
The MaxImmun external advisory board includes industrial, consultant in drug discovery and antimicrobials, medical staff, and patient association.
GILLES COURTEMANCHE
Courtemanche Drug Discovery
Consulting Expert in drug discovery, antimicrobials, and collaborative projects. Former head of Medicinal Chemistry section at Sanofi, former associate director at BioAster and head of Antimicrobials unit.
ANTOINE ALAM
EVOTEC
Head of Antiviral Research section at EVOTEC. Former head of Immuno-Virology section at Sanofi.
FABIENNE VENET
Hospices civils de Lyon
Professor at Claude Bernard Lyon University, Hospital practitioner at Hospices Civils de Lyon.
ANNE BUISSON
Afa Crohn RCH France
Director of Afa Crohn RCH France, a French association dedicated to patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
