Professor Alain Puisieux has led Institut Curie's Research Center (13 research units, 88 teams, 1258 people) since September 2019. He has notably strengthened the Center's excellence in basic research in life sciences, developed translational research and stimulated innovation within the context of a Comprehensive Cancer Center, through a scientific program based on interdisciplinarity and a strengthened link with clinicians from the Institute's Hospital Group.
In his new role, Prof. Alain Puisieux will continue to implement Institut Curie's strategic project, Curie 2030, in which he played an active part as Director of the Research Center.
Biography of Prof. Alain Puisieux
A French pharmacist and biologist, Alain Puisieux is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin. A member of both the Académie nationale de médecine et de pharmacie and the Institut Universitaire de France, Prof. Alain Puisieux knows Institut Curie well. After completing his biology internship there in the late 1980s, he has been a member of the Research Center's Scientific Commission since 2013.
After completing his doctorate in Boston (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School,, USA), he joined the Centre Léon-Bérard (CLB), Lyon's cancer center, as a post-doctoral fellow and then as a practicing hospital biologist. Appointed University Professor (Lyon 1 University) in 2000, Prof. Alain Puisieux set up the Inserm Unit 590 Oncogenesis and Tumor Progression in Lyon, then the Lyon Cancer Research Center (UMR Inserm 1052 - CNRS 5286 - UCBL - CLB), now comprising 26 research teams and 500 members, which he directed from 2011 to 2019.
His research focuses on the dynamics of tumor development. Prof. Alain Puisieux is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in understanding the mechanisms of cancer cell plasticity, and their consequences during the early phases of tumorigenesis and metastatic dissemination. Author of over 150 publications in international journals such as Cancer Cell, Nature, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Genetics and Nature Medicine, Prof. Alain Puisieux has received several prestigious awards and distinctions. In particular, he was awarded the Prix René et Andrée Duquesne in 2019 and the Grand Prix Ruban Rose for breast cancer research in 2018. In March 2022, he was named Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, a distinction rewarding nearly 35 years of success in academic and scientific research.