Vect-Horus has established a long-term highly efficient collaboration with the Institute of NeuroPhysiopathology INP (UMR7051 CNRS-AMU) directed by Dr. Michel KHRESTCHATISKY, cofounder of the company, and this Partnership signed on November 14, 2018 is a cornerstone in the creation of the LABCOM (Common Research Lab) between the INP and Vect-Horus.

The latest work of the NeuroCyto Team (previously on bioRxiv) is now published in the Journal of Cell Biology. We collaborated with the Roy lab to reveal a new mechanism of slow axonal transport, based on the previous discovery of actin hotspots and trails. Hotspots are static actin clusters that appear and disappear within minutes every 3-4 µm along the axon.

On Friday, November 23, the INP welcomes Professor Emeritus Jean-Michel SCHERRMANN (University of Paris Descartes), for a seminar entitled "Why it is difficult to develop CNS drugs: lack of neuropharmacokinetic considerations?”

Santiago Rivera represented the INP on the 1st Congress of the 7 CoENs (International Neetwork of Centers of Excellence in Neurodegeneration) held in Montpellier on October 18 and 19, 2018, endorsed by AVIESAN: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Montpellier, Marseille, Paris and Toulouse. He gave a lecture in the CoEN Pathfinder laureates’ session entitled MT-MMPs at the crossroads of amyloidogenesis and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease.

The Emergence project entitled “Tau, from Alzheimer disease to glioblastoma, evolution of a prognostic marker” was selected by the Canceropole PACA to be founded by the GEFLUC (groupement des entreprises françaises dans la lutte contre le cancer). Team 9 has a long-time expertise on Tau and this grant will be used to complete the identification of the kinases responsible for Tau phosphorylation in glioblastoma.

Photo from the GEFLUC

On September 12, over 300 students, teachers, researchers, clinicians and entrepreneurs participated in the launch of NeuroSchool, the school that unifies and harmonizes the teachings of the third year of the bachelor's degree (Neuroscience path), the master's degree and the PhD program in neuroscience. Funded by the National Research Agency and the A*Midex Foundation, NeuroSchool will benefit from a funding of approximately 10 million euros (over 10 years).

Michel Khrestchatisky gave a talk on the ongoing projects of his group and biotechnology partner Vect-Horus, also member of the ECMED consortium, while Grigorios Kyriatzis presented results of his ongoing PhD project.       

#EUROTAU 2018 - European scientists involved in Tau research met in Lille to exchange new ideas and hypotheses on physiological and pathological roles of tau proteins (26-27th April 2018). François Devred gave one of the 38 selected talks in which he presented a new reversible oligomerization of tau protein evidenced in INP team 9, which could have a protective physiological role and prevent pathological aggregation of tau in neurodegenerative diseases. Next edition of EuroTau will be in 2020.

Photo © Valérie Buée Scherrer