Anne Dejean-Assémat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anne Dejean-Assémat
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 6 January 1957 Cholet, France
|
| Education | Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University |
| Employer | Pasteur Institute, INSERM |
| Known for | Human cancers, Molecular Biology |
| Awards | Member of the French Academy of Sciences, Grand Prix INSERM, Sjöberg Prize |
Anne Dejean-Assémat (born January 6, 1957) is a French scientist. She is a molecular biologist who studies how human cancers develop. She works as a professor at the Pasteur Institute and is a research director at Inserm. She leads a special lab at the Pasteur Institute that looks at how cells are organized and how cancer starts.
Contents
About Anne Dejean-Assémat
Anne Dejean-Assémat studied at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. She earned a Master of Science degree in Genetics in 1980. Later, she completed her PhD at the Pasteur Institute in 1988. During her PhD, she researched how the hepatitis B virus might cause a type of liver cancer.
In 2003, she became the head of a laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and Inserm. She is a member of important scientific groups. These include the EMBO, the French Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has also received many awards for her scientific work.
Her Discoveries in Cancer Research
Anne Dejean-Assémat is a cancer molecular biologist. This means she studies cancer at a very tiny, molecular level. She has made several important discoveries about how cells work and how cancers form.
Understanding Cancer Genes
She found that certain genes, called receptors for retinoic acid, can change. Retinoic acid is a substance that comes from vitamin A. When these genes change, it can lead to liver cancer or a rare type of leukemia.
She helped figure out how to cure this type of leukemia. Her work opened new ways to treat cancer. These treatments help cells develop normally or target specific cancer cells.
How Viruses Can Cause Cancer
She first found a gene change in a liver tumor linked to the hepatitis B virus. She showed that this virus can put its own genetic material into a liver cell. This can mess up the cell's own genes and directly cause liver cancer.
This discovery led her team to find the RARb gene. They also identified how cells respond to retinoic acid. With another scientist, Hugues de Thé, she found a specific protein called PML-RARa. This protein is responsible for a type of leukemia called acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). She also explained how this protein causes cancer.
New Ways to Treat Leukemia
Anne Dejean-Assémat's later work helped explain how APL can be cured. This cure uses retinoic acid and arsenic. This treatment was first developed in China. It is still one of the most effective treatments that targets a specific cancer-causing gene.
She showed that the right amount of retinoic acid can fix problems in leukemic cells. She also found that a special part of the cell, called the PML Nuclear Body, is broken in these cells. Both retinoic acid and arsenic can fix this cell problem. She then showed that arsenic helps break down the cancer-causing protein.
The Role of SUMO Proteins
Her lab also helped scientists understand more about SUMO proteins. She found that these small proteins play a big role in how genes are controlled. They help turn genes on or off. This is important for keeping the body's defense system strong and for cells to keep their identity. Her work has opened new ideas for regenerative medicine and cancer treatment. These new ideas involve changing the levels of SUMO proteins with medicines.
Awards and Memberships
Anne Dejean-Assémat has been part of many scientific advisory groups. She served on the Scientific Council and led a committee at Inserm from 2008 to 2012.
She has received many important awards for her research. Some of these include:
- The Mergier-Bourdeix Prize from the French Academy of Sciences (1997)
- The Rosen Prize from the Medical Research Foundation (1998)
- The Mitjaville Prize from the National Academy of Medicine (1999)
- The Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence (2000)
- The Gagna and Van Heck Prize (2003)
- The Léopold Griffuel Prize (2010)
- The Prize L'Oréal-Unesco for Women in Science (2010)
- The Duquesne Prize (2014)
- The Grand Prix Inserm (2014)
- The Sjöberg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (2018)
She also received two Advanced Grants from the European Research Council (ERC) in 2011 and 2018. She was honored as an Officer in the Ordre national du Mérite (2012) and in the Légion d'honneur (2016).
Anne Dejean-Assémat is a member of several important scientific organizations:
- The European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) (1995)
- The French Academy of Science (2004)
- The Academia Europaea (2005)
- The European Academy of Cancer Sciences (2011)
- The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020)
