Mathieu Boissan, Pharm.D., Ph.D.

Mathieu Boissan, Pharm.D., Ph.D. is a cellular biologist working at Sorbonne University, Medical School in Paris, France. After receiving a Pharm.D. degree from the Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences Faculty, Paris-Descartes University and earning his Ph.D. in Physiology and Physiopathology from Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris, under the supervision of Dr. Marie-Lise Lacombe, Dr. Boissan joined the Institut Curie in Paris to complete a post-doctoral training in the laboratory headed by Dr. Philippe Chavrier. In 2012, Mathieu Boissan became Associate Professor and Hospital Practitioner in Cellular Biology at the Pierre & Marie Curie University Medical School and succeeded Marie-Lise Lacombe, upon her retirement, as the head of the “Metabolic kinases and metastasis dissemination” research group in the Saint-Antoine Research Center in Paris. His research aims at understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which metastasis suppressor genes (NME/NM23 genes encoding nucleoside diphosphate kinases) influence the early steps of the metastatic process.

Dr. Boissan has made significant contributions to the field of metastasis suppressor genes. Together with Dr. Philippe Chavrier, he proved the concept of energy fueling by nucleoside diphosphate kinases towards dynamin family proteins in different subcellular compartments in order to permit membrane remodeling events such as endocytosis and mitochondrial dynamics. In particular, he demonstrated that NME1, the prototypic metastasis suppressor gene, controls endocytic clearance of the transmembrane metalloproteinase, MT1-MMP, a key player in tumor invasion, impacting matrix degradation and tumor dissemination. Furthermore, he identified NME4 as a new and first metastasis suppressor gene product, located to mitochondria.

Mathieu Boissan reminds individuals that there is no success in science that is not collective and he thanks his mentors, Drs. Marie-Lise Lacombe and Philippe Chavrier, for continued support.