Christophe Prehaud obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1984 at Paris University (UPMC) on a molecular and genetic study of the Rabies virus glycoprotein (RABV-G). Then, he moved to Oxford-UK (NERC Institute of Virology) as a European Economic Community (EEC) postdoc fellow before undertaking a post doc training in Australia (CSIRO). He joined Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) in 1994 where he works with Dr Monique Lafon in her research unit (Viral NeuroImmunology) on the Neuron-Rabies Virus interaction. Since then, their work demonstrated the key role of the RABV-G in the neuron survival phenotype of virulent RABV strains and allowed to identify the serine-threonine microtubule associated serine-threonine kinase MAST2 as neuronal protein partner of RABV-G. From this basic research project, they identify a short polypeptide molecule that can trigger neuronal survival and axonal neuroregeneration. The use, delivery and optimization of this molecule is currently developed in a translational research program by using in vivo models as well as in cellulo human neuronal cells and BBB-minibrain models.
