People involved in the PACT4EYE consortium
Institut Curie
Dr. Didier Decaudin is medical oncologist at IC, the leading center for UM treatment in FR. He is the Head of the laboratory of preclinical and research activities in the Translational Research Department for 12 years. He has strong background in pre-clinical cancer research and studies, managing industrial projects, establishment of new PDX models. He published >130 articles and 10 patents.
Dr. Denis Malaise is ophthalmologist at Institut Curie. He is entirely dedicated to ocular tumors, such as uveal melanoma but also others such as retinoblastoma or conjunctival tumors. He is also completing a PhD on the creation of preclinical models of intraocular tumors and their use for the development of new treatment modalities.
Dr. Fariba Nemati joined the Institut Curie in 1996. After obtaining her PhD at the Biopharmaceutical Laboratory of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Paris XI, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship where she acquired skills in preclinical models and in vivo pharmacological experiments. She worked for 5 years as a clinical researcher at the Institut Curie Hospital. She now works in the Laboratory of Preclinical Experiments (LIP) in the Department of Translational Research. She has a strong background in preclinical cancer research, establishing and characterizing new models of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), and cell lines, and designing preclinical studies of new drugs. In particular, she has developed and characterized several panels of PDXs and cell lines, that are relevant tools for pharmacological evaluation. She has published several articles and patented 5 research discoveries.
Dr. Djamel Tahir obtained his diploma in Veterinary Medicine and a Master’s degree in Parasitology in 2014 from Blida-1 University, Algeria. He completed his PhD in Infectious Tropical Diseases in 2017 at the Faculty of Medicine in Marseille, France. After working as a Research Scientist at Clinvet (CRO) and later at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Dr. Djamel is currently working at the Curie Institute, Preclinical Investigation Laboratory, Orsay site. Djamel has expertise in preclinical and clinical trials, as well as in the development of ectoparasiticides and vaccines for dogs. He has published numerous articles in renowned journals in the field of veterinary parasitology, particularly on ticks and tick-borne diseases. His current research focuses on the preclinical evaluation of new treatment approaches for uveal melanoma.
Leiden University
Prof. Sylvestre Bonnet is professor in chemistry. He is an expert in PACT compound and phototherapy in hypoxic tumors. He published the first in vivo study of a Ru-based PACT compound. With Snaar-Jagalska he provided the first demonstration in ZF that eye melanoma can be attenuated by Ru-based compounds. He received prestigious VIDI and VICI grants from Dutch Research Council, and a Starting Grant and two PoC grants from ERC. Bonnet is involved in 3 European projects. He is a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe and published >123 original peer-reviewed articles with >4500 citations (h-index = 41) and filed 8 patents.
Prof. Ewa Snaar-Jagalska is professor of cellular tumor biology. She is expert in human cancer modeling in ZF for preclinical anticancer drug discovery for personalized therapy and fast assessment of cancer cell aggressiveness. She coordinated ZF-CANCER for development of high-throughput bioassays for human cancers in ZF. She published >110 original research papers with >3970 citations (h-index=41).
Dr. Ludo Bretin is postdoctoral researcher within the Metals in Catalysis, Biomimetics and Inorganic Materials group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry.
Dr. Daria Kotova is a Postdoc in the group of Professor Sylvestre Bonnet in Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC). She is a biochemist who defended her PhD thesis in Molecular Biology with a strong physiological basis. For her PhD, she studied redox processes in brain cells in vivo and has an extensive experience in developing optogenetic tools and implementing them in various pathological models. During that time she published 15 papers in peer-viewed journals. Here in the MCBIM group at LIC, she is working on optimizing photoactivated chemotherapy for in vivo use in cancer treatment.
Dr. Bruno Lopes-Bastos is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in cancer biology, currently working under the guidance of Professor Ewa Snaar-Jagalska at Leiden University. With a robust background in using zebrafish as a model organism, Bruno has developed significant expertise in modeling cancer, particularly using zebrafish embryos for innovative drug screening approaches in both cancer and aging research. He is currently developing a zebrafish model of uveal melanoma to test photoactivated chemotherapies.
LUMC
Prof. Martine Jager is professor of ophthalmology at LUMC, the Dutch center for UM treatment and research. She is an expert in brachytherapy and proton beam therapy for UM and has published >250 peer-reviewed articles cited >12000 times (h-index 59). Prof. Jager served as Advisory Board Member of the International Council of Ophthalmology, President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and President of the International Society of Ocular Oncology, the congress of which she Chaired in Leiden in 2022. She has been part of UM Cure 2020 and Arrest Blindness projects, and participates in many international studies (e.g., the American Joint Committee on Cancer, The Cancer Genome Atlas project).
Dr. Ellen W. Kapiteijn is registered specialist in internal medicine department of Medical Oncology, where she treats UM liver metastases patients. She has headed several research projects in metastasized uveal melanoma. She co-authored >125 peer-reviewed publications (h-index >34).
Dr. Louise Albertyn obtained her Medicine diploma in 2023 from KU Leuven, Belgium. After her studies she gained clinical experience while working as ANIOS at the ophthalmology department of Jessa ziekenhuis (Hasselt, Belgium) and Haga Ziekenhuis (the Hague, the Netherlands). Since May 2024 she is working at the ophthalmology department of LUMC, where she started a PhD on the treatment and prognostication of ocular tumors.
Dr. T.H. Khanh Vu is ophthalmologist with a focus on ocular tumors. She visited Schepens Eye Research Center of Harvard Medical School, and won the “Best Thesis in basic and clinical sciences” LUMC award in 2019. One of her articles won the Best Scientific Paper 2018 in de Wet Lab category at Harvard Medical School. Her research is on new treatments of ocular ETs and its immunology.
Recornea
Dr. Emiliano Lepore is a biomedical engineer. He previously led the development and commercialization of two medical devices through exclusive licensing deals to third parties. Lepore was also the team leader in three successful ERC PoC grants, published 20 articles in international journals, 2 books, 19 proceedings at international conferences, and 7 patents. He is 3rd time entrepreneur with RCN and has international business background in Japan and Singapore.
Dr. Moses Kakanga is a biochemist with experience in conducting clinical trials phase III for biopharmaceutical products (axyclova). Moses has co-authored 3 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is a 1st time entrepreneur with RCN and has an international research background in UK and Singapore.
Dr. Jennifer Nißl is a Quality Management expert with experience in the development of quality management systems for medical devices in accordance with ISO13485, risk management, project management and business planning. She works at RCN to set up an ISO 13485 compliant quality management system for our company and medical device products.
Dr. Mario Ricciardi is expert in Molecular and Cellular Pathology. Since 2015, he is member of the Committee of Orphan Medicinal Product at EMA. He works at RCN to accelerate the regulatory approvals in EU and US through an optimized planning of the pre-clinical/clinical activities.
Dr. Rossella Baldini spent more than 6 years in biomedical research. After completing her PhD in Molecular Biomedicine, she moved her focus to clinical research. In this field, she had the opportunity to transfer her background to the clinical context, acquiring new skills and knowledge in planning, conducting and managing clinical studies. Rossella works in RCN as Clinical Trial Manager, where she is responsible for the design, strategic planning, execution, monitoring of pre-clinical and clinical studies for the ophthalmic devices developed at Recornea.
Paola Di Rosa is Funding and Investor Relationships Officer at RCN. As a lawyer by education and profession, Paola handles the strategic management and business development of the intellectual property arising from RCN. She is responsible for generating, structuring, and managing relations with VC funds and other investors from the life science innovation ecosystem.