André Choulika (born 1965) is a

biotechnologist Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

, the inventor of

nuclease A nuclease (also archaically known as nucleodepolymerase or polynucleotidase) is an enzyme capable of cleaving the phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides of nucleic acids. Nucleases variously effect single and double stranded breaks in their ta ...

-based genome editing and a pioneer in the analysis and use of

meganucleases Meganucleases are endodeoxyribonucleases characterized by a large recognition site (double-stranded DNA sequences of 12 to 40 base pairs); as a result this site generally occurs only once in any given genome. For example, the 18-base pair sequence r ...

to modify complex genomes.

Early life and education

André Choulika was born in

Beirut, Lebanon Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of ...

, in 1965, to a Russian father and Lebanese mother. He left Lebanon in 1982, arriving in France via Nicosia, Cyprus. After attending school in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, he went on to study biology and virology at

Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussi ...

(Paris VI), where he joined Professor Bernard Dujon's lab. He earned his

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...

degree at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

in the laboratory of François Jacob, who was awarded the 1965

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

in medicine and is considered to be the father of genetic research. While working with Jean-François Nicolas, Bernard Dujon and Arnaud Perrin in the early 1990s, Choulika was the first to use snipping nucleases (

meganuclease Meganucleases are endodeoxyribonucleases characterized by a large recognition site (double-stranded DNA sequences of 12 to 40 base pairs); as a result this site generally occurs only once in any given genome. For example, the 18-base pair sequence r ...

s) to edit genes in mammalian cells, giving rise to the modern field of gene editing. After receiving his doctorate in molecular virology from Pierre and Marie Curie University-Paris VI, André completed a postdoctoral fellowship with

Richard C. Mulligan Richard C. Mulligan, Ph.D., (born 1954) is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Harvard Gene Therapy Initiative. He is a Director of Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Biogen Idec, Inc. Awards * 198 ...

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in the Department of Genetics. This work represented the first use of chimeric nucleases to edit genomes by

homologous recombination Homologous recombination is a type of genetic recombination in which genetic information is exchanged between two similar or identical molecules of double-stranded or single-stranded nucleic acids (usually DNA as in cellular organisms but may ...

. 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 Gene therapy is a medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying human DN ...

Innovation and entrepreneurship

In 1999, Choulika founded the biopharmaceutical company Cellectis as a spin-off from the

. The Pasteur Institute transferred licensing rights on nine patent families, including several based on his own research. Cellectis' work is focused on developing

immunotherapies Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

to target and eradicate cancers. These are based on custom engineered

CAR A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

T-cell A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...

s (UCART), whose properties can be determined by genetic modification. The company's mission is to develop a new generation of cancer therapies based on these engineered T-cells. Choulika has been a strong proponent of gene editing technologies as a concept that would survive the 21st century. In 2014, Cellectis entered into 2 strategic partnerships with

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

and

Servier Servier Laboratories (French: Laboratoires Servier, often abbreviated to Servier) is an international pharmaceutical company governed by a non-profit foundation, with its headquarters in France (Suresnes). The consolidated turnover for the 2018 ...

for collaboration on their cancer immunotherapy products. In 2018, Allogene assumed the global strategic partnership from Pfizer that was originally agreed upon in 2014. Both Servier and Allogene continue to work on UCART19 in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Cellectis also has research alliances with a number of hospitals for their UCART clinical trials – among the first being

Weill Cornell Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

and the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. An agricultural biotechnology subsidiary, Calyxt, Inc. (formerly Cellectis Plant Sciences, Inc.), was founded in 2010. Its work includes the development of High-Oleic Soybean Oil and High Fiber Wheat with reduced gluten content. 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 (the Health Industry Alliance for Research and Innovation), a board member for

EuropaBio EuropaBio ("The European Association for Bioindustries") is Europe's largest and most influential biotech industry group, whose members include leading large-size healthcare and industrial biotechnology companies. EuropaBio is located in Brussels, ...

on emerging businesses, and a member of the scientific advisory program Biofutur. He was also the president of

France Biotech France Biotech is the French trade association of biotechnology companies. It was created in 1997 by a group of French biotechnology entrepreneurs, among whom was its first president Pascal Brandys Pascal Brandys (born 30 November 1958, in Roanne) ...

(the French association of biotechnology companies) from 2009 to 2014. In 2013, he was appointed project manager of France's "medical biotechnology" program, one of 34 launched by Arnaud Montebourg, Minister of Industrial Renewal of France. In 2019, Dr. Choulika was also appointed to the Board of Directors for the Institut Pasteur for his business expertise.

Awards and recognition

* 1999: Cellectis wins the Emerging Business category in a national competition for the creation of innovative technology companies, launched by Claude Allegre * 2015: Cellectis named Company of the Year, European MedScience Awards * 2016: Cellectis wins Most Innovative European Biotech SME in Healthcare, EuropaBio Awards * 2016: Cellectis named as one of MIT Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies

Personal life

André Choulika has three children. He cites cycling, skiing and collecting modern art as hobbies.

Selected publications

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

Selected patents

References

External links

Cellectis

ViroXis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choulika, Andre Living people 1965 births French people of Lebanese descent Lebanese chief executives