André Choulika

André Choulika
Alma mater Pierre and Marie Curie University, Institut Pasteur, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
Known for genome editing technologies
Scientific career
Fields Biology and Genetics
Institutions Cellectis
Academic advisors Bernard Dujon, Richard C. Mulligan, François Jacob,

André Choulika (born 1965) is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Cellectis Group since 1999. André is the inventor of nuclease-based genome editing and a pioneer in the analysis and use of meganucleases to modify complex genomes.[1][2][3]

Biography

Education

André Choulika started his studies in 1985 in biochemistry and genetics at Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI) and joined Professor Bernard Dujon's lab. His work led to the discovery of the meganuclease I-SceI. Meganucleases are special enzymes that can be used to digest DNA in a highly specific and controllable manner. He earned his DEA degree at the Pasteur Institute in the laboratory of François Jacob, who had previously been awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in medicine. While working with Jean-François Nicolas, Bernard Dujon and Arnaud Perrin in the early 1990s, André was the first to use very rare snipping nucleases, (meganucleases), to edit genes in mammalian cells, giving rise to the modern field of gene editing.[4]

After receiving his doctorate in molecular virology from Pierre and Marie Curie University-Paris VI, André completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Richard C. Mulligan at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Genetics. This work represented the first use of chimeric nucleases to edit genomes by homologous recombination. Later, while working in the Division of Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital, he developed the first approaches to meganuclease-based human gene therapy.

Cellectis

In 1999, André founded Cellectis as a spin-off from the Pasteur Institute. The Pasteur Institute transferred licensing rights on 9 patent families, including several based on André's research, allowing the company to establish its own revenue stream from licensing fees and finance the development of its proprietary technologies over the first years. In 1999, André submitted his start-up project to a national competition for the creation of innovative technology companies, launched by Claude Allegre and won the "emerging business" category. Cellectis has had the privilege of inventing or trying all available genome editing technologies: meganucleases, ZFNs, TALEN CRISPRs, Mega-TALs, and BurrH.

Today, Cellectis is focused on developing immunotherapies based on custom engineered CAR-T-cells (UCART), whose properties can be determined by genetic modification.[5] The company's mission is to develop a new generation of cancer therapies based on these engineered T-cells. Cellectis leverages its 18 years of expertise in genome editing, based on its flagship TALEN products, meganucleases, and pioneering electroporation PulseAgile technology,[6] to create a new generation of immunotherapies. André Choulika has been a strong proponent of gene editing technologies as a concept that would survive the 21st century.

André Choulika was a member of the Supervisory Board of Viroxis SA and was a member of the Investment Committee of G1J Ile-de-France. He was a Council member of ARIIS, a board member for EuropaBio on emerging businesses, and a member of the scientific advisory program Biofutur. He was also the president of France Biotech, the French association of biotechnology companies from 2009 to 2014. In 2013, he was appointed project manager of the "medical biotechnology" program, one of 34 launched by Arnaud Montebourg, Minister of Industrial Renewal of France.

Selected publications

  • "I-SceI meganuclease mediates highly efficient transgenesis in fish. [7]
  • LagoZ and LagZ, two genes derived from the LacZ gene to study epigenetics. [8]
  • I-SceI-induced gene replacement at a natural locus in embryonic stem cells. [9]
  • Induction of homologous recombination in mammalian chromosomes by using the I-SceI system of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.[10]

Selected patents

US Patent Number Title Year
8,476,072 Meganuclease recombination system 2013[11]
8,921,332 Chromosomal modification involving the induction of double-stranded DNA cleavage and homologous recombination at the cleavage site 2014[11]
8,206,965 Hybrid and single chain meganucleases and use thereof 2012[11]
9,365,864 Meganuclease recombination system 2016[11]
7,960,525 Gene repair involving in vivo excision of targeting DNA 2011[11]
7,842,489 Use of meganucleases for inducing homologous recombination ex vivo and in toto in vertebrate somatic tissues and application thereof 2010[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Interview CEO of Cellectis: CAR-T is not the Cancer Cure-All". Labiotech.eu. 2015-11-30. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  2. ↑ "With a crucial CAR-T trial looming for Cellectis, a confident André Choulika is laying it all on the line | FierceBiotech". www.fiercebiotech.com. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  3. ↑ "Tools and technologies". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  4. ↑ Choulika, A.; Perrin, A.; Dujon, B.; Nicolas, J. F. (1994-11-01). "The yeast I-Sce I meganuclease induces site-directed chromosomal recombination in mammalian cells". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série III. 317 (11): 1013–1019. ISSN 0764-4469. PMID 7882137.
  5. ↑ "Cellectis - gene edited T-Cells". Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Pulse Agile Technology". Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ Thermes, Violette (2002-10-01). "I-SceI meganuclease mediates highly efficient transgenesis in fish". Mechanisms of Development. 118 (1–2): 91–98. doi:10.1016/S0925-4773(02)00218-6. ISSN 0925-4773.
  8. ↑ Henry, Isabelle (1999-12-01). "LagoZ et LagZ, deux gènes appauvris en dinucléotides CpG dérivés du gène LacZ pour l'étude des contrôles épigénétiques". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série III. 322 (12): 1061–1070. doi:10.1016/S0764-4469(99)00105-5. ISSN 0764-4469.
  9. ↑ Cohen-Tannoudji, M.; Robine, S.; Choulika, A.; Pinto, D.; El Marjou, F.; Babinet, C.; Louvard, D.; Jaisser, F. (March 1998). "I-SceI-induced gene replacement at a natural locus in embryonic stem cells". Molecular and Cellular Biology. 18 (3): 1444–1448. doi:10.1128/mcb.18.3.1444. ISSN 0270-7306. PMC 108858. PMID 9488460.
  10. ↑ Choulika, A.; Perrin, A.; Dujon, B.; Nicolas, J. F. (April 1995). "Induction of homologous recombination in mammalian chromosomes by using the I-SceI system of Saccharomyces cerevisiae". Molecular and Cellular Biology. 15 (4): 1968–1973. doi:10.1128/mcb.15.4.1968. ISSN 0270-7306. PMC 230423. PMID 7891691.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Patents by Inventor Andre Choulika". Justia Patents. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
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