Anne Dejean-Assémat is Director of Research Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale and Professor at the Institut Pasteur.
Education
Anne Dejean-Assémat was educated at the Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, graduating with a Master of degree in Genetics in 1981. She then earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University Pierre et Marie Curie at the Institut Pasteur in 1988 under the supervision of Piotr Slonimski.
Career
She heads the Laboratory of Nuclear Organization and Oncogenesis at the Institut Pasteur and the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale Unit 993. A molecular biologist, Anne Dejean-Assémat investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the development of human cancers. She discovered the role of mutations in retinoic acid receptors in liver cancer and acute promyelocytic leukaemia and dissected the molecular mechanisms underlying their role in oncogenesis and treatment sensitivity.
Anne Dejean-Assémat and her collaborators have made important advances in understanding the origin of certain cancers and have opened up unique perspectives for new targeted therapeutic leads.
Her main contributions are: First demonstration of a direct role for the Hepatitis B Virus in human liver cancer as an insertional mutagen Discovery of the first retinoic acid receptor gene at an HBV integration site Cloning of the first retinoic acid responsive element Molecular cloning of the PML-RAR oncoprotein responsible for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) Discovery of a novel nuclear organelle, the PML Nuclear Body, involved in human leukemogenesis Establishment of the molecular basis for the therapeutic effect of retinoic acid in APL Discovery of the molecular basis for the therapeutic role of arsenic in APL: PML-RAR polysumoylation and degradation Establishement of the first mouse model for hyposumoylation European Molecular Biology Organization Member, 1995.
Achievements
Membership
She was elected member of the French Academy of in 2004. Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Medicine, 2004