2010 Laureate
Current position
Group leader, Research Director
Host institution
Institute of Biology Valrose, Nice, France Inserm, France
collombat@unice.fr
Pax4 overexpression in alpha cells in the pancreas leads insulin production regeneration
Patrick Collombat and his research group are studying type I diabetes, an auto-immune disease characterized by the loss of insulin producing cells in the pancreas (the beta cells). Using mice as a model system, they recently demonstrated that ectopic expression of a single gene (Pax4) in neighboring cells of the pancreas (alpha cells) can induce their regeneration and conversion into insulin producing cells. Cells generated this way are functional and can literally cure a chemically induced diabetes.
• 1999 : M. Sc., University Toulouse III, France
• 2004 : Ph. D., Max Planck Institute Goettingen, Germany, Ahmed Mansouri's lab
• 2004-2009 : Post-doctoral training, Max Planck Institute Goettingen, Germany, Ahmed Mansouri's lab
• 2009 : appointed research associate (Inserm CR1)
• Chevalier Ordre National du Mérite, 2018
• Auguste Loubatières Prize, 2015
• G. B. Morgagni Silver medal Young Investigator Award, Servier, 2014
• Appolinaire Bouchardat Prize, 2013
• Prize of the French Academy of Science (Fondation Générale de la Santé), 2013
• Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), 2011
• JJDRF Career Development Award, 2010
Co-fondateur et conseiller scientifique de la compagnie DiogenX (sponsorisée par la JDRF USA, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund Allemagne et Advent Biotechnology France) ayant levé 4.5 millions d’euros en 2020
Juin 2020
Un chercheur azuréen veut éradiquer le diabète
Passage sur France Bleu, April 2017
Une nouvelle avancée dans le traitement du Diabète de type 1 ? Interview.
Interview sur un site de patients, Dec 2016
Rêves de recherche, rêve de chercheur
June 2011