Contact details
Vice-Dean for Research School of Pharmacy - Head of Medicinal Chemistry Department & Deputy director UR 1155 - IICiMed Institut de Recherche en Santé 2 Université de Nantes 22 Boulevard Bénoni Goullin 44200 Nantes, France
- Office
- 226 (Bias - Teaching)
- Phone
- 0253484133 (n° interne : 334133)
- Office 2
- 102 (IRS2 - Research)
- Phone 2
- 0253009155 (n° interne : 329155)
- Pascal.Marchand@univ-nantes.fr
- Personal Website
- https://iicimed.univ-nantes.fr/en/
Taught academic discipline(s)
Research topics
Activities / Resume
Academic qualifications
Medicinal Chemistry department, UR 1155 - IICiMed, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nantes.
September 2013: Professor of Organic Chemistry (1st class September 2016 & exceptional class 1 September 2022)June 2007: Habilitation in Medicinal Chemistry - Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of azaheterocyclic compounds
September 2001: Assistant Professor in Organic Chemistry
January 2000-August 2001: Lecturer in Organic Chemistry
June 1996: Master's degree in Pharmacochemistry
Involvement in postgraduate education/supervision/examination
PhD thesis supervisions (17): industry collaborations (Æterna Zentaris-Germany and Servier-France) and academic collaborations (Parasitology and Medical Mycology department of IICiMed team and international joint supervisions)
T17. Siga SAGNE (International joint supervision 50%) – Synthesis and evaluation of the antiparasitic properties of a new class of molecules for the treatment of leishmaniasis – defense planned on May 2025. Co-supervision: Prof. Abdoulaye Gassama, Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor, Senegal.
T16. Lhana TISSEUR (Co-supervision at 50%) – Design, synthesis and evaluation of antiparasitic properties of imidazo[1,2-a]pyrazine derivatives targeting casein kinase 1 of Leishmania spp. – defense planned on November 2024. Co-supervision: Dr. Marc-Antoine Bazin.
Masters 2 (MSc) (15)
Postdoctoral researchers (10)
69 international publications and 4 international patents (h-Index: 19)
27 conferences as invited speaker
72 posters
- ANR PRC TEXLEISH Nov.2021-Oct. 2025, UR 1155 – IICiMed, Pasteur – Paris et BioCIS UMR CNRS 8076 – Châtenay-Malabry
- CAPES-COFECUB 2015/2018 & 2023/2026 Programmes – Brazil
- Collaboration Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor 2021-2025 – Senegal
- Collaboration University of Toronto since 2021 – Canada
- Collaboration Ege University, Izmir & Izmir Katip Celebi University since 2023 – Turkey
- PHC ULYSSES 2014 & 2020/2021 Programme – Ireland
- CONACYT 2018/2021 Programme – Mexico
- Regional project PIRAMID 2016/2020 – France
- Campus France Programme Project 911 2015/2018 – Vietnam
- ANR PRC TEXLEISH Nov.2021-Oct. 2025, UR 1155 – IICiMed, Pasteur – Paris et BioCIS UMR CNRS 8076 – Châtenay-Malabry
Leishmaniasis is a severe public health issue and the current treatments are toxic, costly or lead to parasite resistance, thus there is an urgent need for new drugs. The TEXLEISH consortium proposes a new paradigm: inhibiting host-parasite interactions, through targeting Leishmania exoproteome, in order to limit the risk of parasite resistance. TEXLEISH synergizes important expertise in medicinal chemistry, kinase-based drug discovery, parasite biology and in vivo testing to optimize CTN1122, a potent antileishmanial lead compound, into an orally active, safe, effective drug candidate. This process involves iterative rounds of chemical synthesis, assessment of its efficacy, toxicity, in vitro bioavailability, in vivo efficiency on animal models and the study of its mechanism of action. The TEXLEISH project will constitute a proof of concept to validate pathogen exoproteome as the future of target-based strategies.
This project, of which I am the leader for 4 years, benefits from ANR (French National Research Agency)/Region funding (Targeting host-parasite interactions through the inhibition of EXcreted LEISHmania casein kinase 1). It brings together 3 laboratories with 8 EC, 1 CR, 1 IR, 2 technicians, 1 chemistry doctoral student, 3 Master 2 chemistry student, and it will allow the recruitment of 1 biology post-doctoral fellow, 1 MolMod engineer, 2 biology technicians. Funding ANR 747 k€ and Pays de la Loire Region 50 k€ (AAP National Trajectory of Loire Research). https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-21-CE18-0026.
Additional information
- CAPES-COFECUB 2023/2026 Programme – Brazil
The French Committee for the Evaluation of Academic and Scientific Cooperation with Brazil (COFECUB) in partnership with the CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento do Pessoal de Nível Superior, the Federal Agency of Support and Evaluation of Postgraduate Education) has selected the project submitted jointly by the team IICiMed (Prof. Pascal Marchand, University of Nantes - NU) and the Department of Antibiotics, Biological Sciences Center (Prof. Teresinha Silva, Federal University of Pernambuco - UFPE, Recife, Brazil). The research program, with duration of 4 years, entitled " Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new heterocyclic antileishmanial compounds " will see the funding of 2 co-supervised theses or 1 Brazilian post-doctorate per year. will see the funding of 2 co-supervised theses or 1 Brazilian post-doctorate per year.
The researchers involved were able to give conferences, lectures at doctoral schools and research seminars at NU and UFPE.
Compared to CAPES-COFECUB 2015-2018 project three other Brazilian universities will be involved:
- Universidade Estadual da Paraíba – UEPB João Pessoa (Prof. Francisco Jaime B. Mendonça Junior)
- Universidade Federal de Alagoas – UFAL Maceió (Prof. Thiago Aquino)
- Universidade Federal do Delta do Parnaíba – UFDPar Parnaíba (Prof. Dr. Klinger Antonio da Franca Rodrigues)
In this context, Dr. Larissa G. Maciel, UFPE - Recife Brazil, is doing a post-doctoral fellowship in the Laboratory from November 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024.
- Collaboration University of Toronto since 2021 – Canada
Development of Candida albicans Yck2 inhibitors (fungal casein kinase 1, CK1), Prof. L. E. Cowen (http://individual.utoronto.ca/cowen/).
- Collaboration Ege University1, Izmir & Izmir Katip Celebi University2 since 2023 – Turkey
As part of the COST ACTION CA21111 - One Health drugs against parasitic vector borne diseases in Europe and beyond (OneHealthdrugs), Dr. Gulsah Bayraktar1 has been awarded a mobility grant (Short-Term Scientific Mission) as a visiting researcher in the laboratory from June 9 to July 17, 2023. A collaboration aimed at developing new heterocyclic compounds with antileishmanial properties has been initiated, also involving Prof. Huseyin Istanbullu2 and Dr. Merve Saylam2.
- Collaboration Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor 2021-2025 – Senegal
The research work of the IICiMed team in the fight against leishmaniasis allowed the development of a collaborative project with the Laboratory of Chemistry and Physics of Materials (LCPM) of Prof. A. Gassama from the Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor. A thesis in medicinal chemistry under joint supervision (from May 2021) focuses on the design of new bicyclic piperidine based antileishmanial compounds. Funding of a doctoral scholarship from the French Cooperation.
- PHC ULYSSES 2014 & 2020/2021 Programme – Ireland
Campus France, responsible for the management of Hubert Curien Partnership (PHC) has selected the project ULYSSES 2014 filed jointly by the Department of Medicinal Chemistry of IICiMed team (Prof. Pascal Marchand, University of Nantes) and "Department of Chemistry and ABCRF "(Dr Florence McCarthy, University College Cork, Ireland). This collaboration, still in progress, is a work of Medicinal Chemistry in the field of oncology that led to the mobility of the students and the project managers between the two sites. This collaboration is currently continuing in the field of medical mycology since a ULYSSES 2020 project, with the same partner, has been selected and aims at the synthesis and evaluation of new pharmaceutical leads for the inhibition of fungal Protein Kinase C to combat resistance in Candida albicans in the clinic. Funding of €5,000.
Professional activities (member of committees/research clusters etc.)
- Member of the european Group for the Promotion of Pharmaceutical chemistry in Academia (GP2A) and President from September 2017 (www.gp2a.org).
- Local coordinator of Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Network at Nantes Université from 2021 (http://www.pehrlichmedchem.eu).
- Committee member of European COST ACTION CA21111 - One Health drugs against parasitic vector borne diseases in Europe and beyond (OneHealthdrugs) from 2022 (https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA21111/).
