BIH Lecture | Chantal Pichon: "Messenger RNA, a Game Changer in Biomedicine: Where Do We Stand From Now?"

Only available in English.

BIH Lecture

The potential of messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines has been revealed by the success of rapid and adaptable vaccination strategies to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The achievement of those mRNA vaccines has been made possible through advances in the design of mRNA structure, manufacturing and delivery systems. This success opens up an avenue for the development of innovative mRNA-based formulations envisioning different therapeutic applications in immunotherapy, regenerative medicine and gene editing. Those formulations are quite challenging due to the peculiar nature of mRNA. Current knowledge regarding strategies that we and other have proposed to overcome multiple biological barriers and to obtain a targeted delivery will be summarized. Issues that we have to face when conducting those strategies will be discussed. Last, I will present challenges that have to be tackled to fully prove mRNA mettle for therapeutic applications.

About the Speaker

Chantal Pichon is fill Professor at the University of Orleans (France) and holds the Innovation Chair of Excellence at the Institut Universitaire de France (Paris).She is also BIH Visiting Professor at the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT). She conducts interdisciplinary projects based on chemistry, molecular and cell biology. These last ten years, she has been particularly interested in vaccines and therapeutics based on messenger RNA (mRNA) and is developing innovative formulations for vaccination, protein replacement therapy and cell therapy. Chantal Pichon has patented an mRNA bioproduction technology, a complete paradigm shift from in vitro production and a revolutionary new use of yeast as cell factory. It envisions building an economically sustainable biotechnology process for the production of high-quality therapeutic mRNAs. The goal is to reduce social disparities between and within European countries and around the world that are unfavorably correlated with access to new biopharmaceuticals such as mRNAs.

Registration

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