- Email: [email protected]
Biosketch of Professor Anne Vessières
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 734 (2013) 2
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jorganchem
Biosketch of Professor Anne Vessières
Anne Vessières is presently a Director of Research in the CNRS, and director of the Charles Friedel Laboratory, home to the Molecular Chemistry (bioorganometallic, organometallic and organic chemistry) research groups working within Chimie ParisTech. She was born and raised in Brittany. After obtaining her first degree at the University of Rennes, she earned two doctoral degrees, in chemistry (1974) and biochemistry (1980). In 1981 she spent some time at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, in the spectroscopy laboratory of I.S. Butler. It is this period that marks the beginning of her multidisciplinary work at the interface of organometallic chemistry, biochemistry and spectroscopy, which would later become one of the facets of Bioorganometallic Chemistry. In 1982 she participated with G. Jaouen and S. Top in setting up the Organometallic Chemistry laboratory at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Paris. From the beginning, the laboratory had the stated aim of developing this new interdisciplinary approach, and A. Vessières, with her dual educational experience, worked patiently to build connections between two disciplines that did not speak the same language. The first results were obtained in the study of interactions of hormones with estradiol receptors. These were followed by a major contribution to the development of the non-isotopic immunoassay CMIA (Carbonyl Metallo Immuno Assay), undertaken in collaboration
0022-328X/$ – see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jorganchem.2013.01.005
with P. Brossier, a pharmacist at the University of Dijon, France, and M. Salmain, whose PhD work was on this topic. Research is still being actively pursued in this area, and has recently led to the development of a solid-phase CMIA as well as the infrared mapping of metal carbonyl complexes within isolated cells, using the new technique photothermal induced resonance (PT-IR). Anne Vessières has also done much work in the area of Medicinal Organometallic Chemistry, particularly in the development of the ferrocifen family of molecules. This research benefited early on from a collaboration with G. Leclercq, a biochemist specializing in the study of the estrogen receptor at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels, Belgium, where A. Vessières spent research periods in 1999 and 2003. The discovery of the cytotoxic effects of these complexes was followed by the synthesis of many more such complexes. It now remains to elucidate their mechanism of action. Transferring in vitro results to an in vivo situation was one of the most difficult challenges faced. A solution to this problem was recently discovered with the development, by C. Passirani, a drug delivery specialist in the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Angers, France, of a formulation of ferrocenyl complexes in lipid nanocapsules. All these studies share the common approach that A. Vessières has always favored, that of multidisciplinary research at the leading edge of innovation. Anne Vessières has for many years been a member of the European COST programmes D29, D39 and now CM1105, in which there is a significant role for Bioorganometallic Chemistry, a field of research that is particularly active in Europe. She also helped to raise awareness of this new field by organizing, together with other members of the laboratory in Paris, the first conference on the topic in 2002 (ISBOMC’02). This led to a regular series of conferences held at two-year intervals. In 2012, she received the Elsevier/JOMC Award for Outstanding Achievements in Bioorganometallic Chemistry. The award was presented to her at the International Symposium on Bioorganometallic Chemistry that was held in Toronto in July of 2012.
Richard D. Adams, Regional Editor Columbia, SC, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jorganchem
Biosketch of Professor Anne Vessières
Anne Vessières is presently a Director of Research in the CNRS, and director of the Charles Friedel Laboratory, home to the Molecular Chemistry (bioorganometallic, organometallic and organic chemistry) research groups working within Chimie ParisTech. She was born and raised in Brittany. After obtaining her first degree at the University of Rennes, she earned two doctoral degrees, in chemistry (1974) and biochemistry (1980). In 1981 she spent some time at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, in the spectroscopy laboratory of I.S. Butler. It is this period that marks the beginning of her multidisciplinary work at the interface of organometallic chemistry, biochemistry and spectroscopy, which would later become one of the facets of Bioorganometallic Chemistry. In 1982 she participated with G. Jaouen and S. Top in setting up the Organometallic Chemistry laboratory at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Paris. From the beginning, the laboratory had the stated aim of developing this new interdisciplinary approach, and A. Vessières, with her dual educational experience, worked patiently to build connections between two disciplines that did not speak the same language. The first results were obtained in the study of interactions of hormones with estradiol receptors. These were followed by a major contribution to the development of the non-isotopic immunoassay CMIA (Carbonyl Metallo Immuno Assay), undertaken in collaboration
0022-328X/$ – see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jorganchem.2013.01.005
with P. Brossier, a pharmacist at the University of Dijon, France, and M. Salmain, whose PhD work was on this topic. Research is still being actively pursued in this area, and has recently led to the development of a solid-phase CMIA as well as the infrared mapping of metal carbonyl complexes within isolated cells, using the new technique photothermal induced resonance (PT-IR). Anne Vessières has also done much work in the area of Medicinal Organometallic Chemistry, particularly in the development of the ferrocifen family of molecules. This research benefited early on from a collaboration with G. Leclercq, a biochemist specializing in the study of the estrogen receptor at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels, Belgium, where A. Vessières spent research periods in 1999 and 2003. The discovery of the cytotoxic effects of these complexes was followed by the synthesis of many more such complexes. It now remains to elucidate their mechanism of action. Transferring in vitro results to an in vivo situation was one of the most difficult challenges faced. A solution to this problem was recently discovered with the development, by C. Passirani, a drug delivery specialist in the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Angers, France, of a formulation of ferrocenyl complexes in lipid nanocapsules. All these studies share the common approach that A. Vessières has always favored, that of multidisciplinary research at the leading edge of innovation. Anne Vessières has for many years been a member of the European COST programmes D29, D39 and now CM1105, in which there is a significant role for Bioorganometallic Chemistry, a field of research that is particularly active in Europe. She also helped to raise awareness of this new field by organizing, together with other members of the laboratory in Paris, the first conference on the topic in 2002 (ISBOMC’02). This led to a regular series of conferences held at two-year intervals. In 2012, she received the Elsevier/JOMC Award for Outstanding Achievements in Bioorganometallic Chemistry. The award was presented to her at the International Symposium on Bioorganometallic Chemistry that was held in Toronto in July of 2012.
Richard D. Adams, Regional Editor Columbia, SC, USA E-mail address: [email protected]