Chatenet David

Biography

Dr. David Chatenet graduated in Chemistry and Physical Chemistry at the Henri Poincaré University - Nancy I in 2000, and a PhD in Chemistry, option in Medicinal Chemistry and Neurosciences, at the University of Sciences of Rouen in 2005. After a postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute in the group of Prs. Jean Rivier and Wylie Vale. In 2008, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Alain Fournier (INRS-IAF) as a research associate. Since November 2012, Dr. Chatenet is a faculty member of the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier.

Research Interest

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) form a large family of transmembrane proteins (over 800 members) enabling the cell to communicate with its environment. More precisely, GPCRs are involved in the transfer of information through biological membranes and participate in this role in the regulation of a multitude of physiological processes such as visual perception, pain, nerve transmission, cardiac homeostasis or still food intake. As a result, the disruption of one or more of these receptors has already been associated with many diseases such as diabetes, cancers, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. No less than 40% of the drugs currently on the market target these receptors. Many GPCRs possess peptides for endogenous ligands which are currently considered as potential therapeutic agents because of their specificity towards their protein partners. The understanding of molecular mechanisms, ie peptide-receptor interactions, involved in the control of the physiological functions of GPCR represents a crucial step towards the identification of novel peptide derivatives for diagnostic, therapeutic or even theranostic purposes. Until recently, the mode of operation of these receptors was assimilated to an on / off switch, their endogenous ligand, acting as an agonist, being capable of lighting all the signaling pathways associated with this receptor. This notion has recently been replaced by the notion of functional selectivity or biased agonism of ligands, the latter being able to favor activation of one particular signaling pathway over another. The possibility, within a pathological context, of selectively regulating / modulating certain signaling pathways associated with a given GPCR could greatly improve the effectiveness of the treatments while reducing the undesirable side effects.