May Bakail, PhD

Experience

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  CEA - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives

  Oct 2012 - Nov 2016

  PHD Student

  ASF1 is a histone H3-H4 chaperone implicated in several cancers. Like many proteins, this chaperone mediates its cellular functions through protein-protein interactions involving various protein partners. My thesis work focuses on the development of an original strategy to design inhibitory peptides targeting such disease-associated type of biological interactions. The rational and iterative approach developed relies on the tethering of binding epitopes isolated from different partners, and stabilized by “anchor” residues that engage large number of atomic contacts with the target. The further progression of this approach toward a peptidomimetic strategy overcomes obstacles commonly associated to the therapeutic use of peptides such as biodisponibility and half-life. Applied for targeting ASF1, such method allowed the conception of a peptide presenting a 3nM affinity for its target, which is 3000 fold higher than that of the natural partner H3. This peptide could be successfully mimicked by an oligourea structure, giving rise to a peptidomimetic that restores most important contacts with the target, ASF1. When coupled to a cleavable Cell Penetrating Peptide, these inhibitors displayed an on-target effect where they impeded cancerous cells proliferation, ultimately resulting in cells death. Show less

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  INSERM - Institut Cochin

  Mar 2017 - Feb 2019

  Postdoctoral Researcher

  Dissecting the mechanisms governing RNA Pol II pause/release in the context of HIV latently infected cells

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  Institute of Science and Technology Austria

  Feb 2020 - now

  IT Support Specialist