Pierre Monsan

Pierre Monsan
Born (1948-06-25) 25 June 1948 (age 76)
Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
NationalityFrench
Alma materINSA Toulouse
University of Toulouse
Known forBiocatalysis
Enzyme engineering
Industrial biotechnology
AwardsEnzyme Engineering (2017)
Knight in the French Legion of Honour (2017)
Knight in the French National Order of Merit (2013)
Biocat Lifetime Achievement (2012)
Chaptal Award for Chemical Arts (2000)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry, enzymology, biocatalysis, biotechnology
InstitutionsInstitut national des sciences appliquées de Toulouse
University of Toulouse
Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés
Toulouse White Biotechnology

Pierre Monsan (born June 25, 1948, in Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales, France)[1] is a French biochemist and entrepreneur. He is currently Professor emeritus at the Institut national des sciences appliquées de Toulouse (INSA Toulouse, affiliated to the University of Toulouse) and the founding director of the pre-industrial demonstrator Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB).[2]

Monsan's scientific interests include biocatalysis, biochemical and enzyme engineering. Beyond his academic work, Monsan is co-inventor on numerous patents and co-founded several industrial biotechnology companies.[3]

Education and career

Monsan was educated at INSA Toulouse and the University of Toulouse where he graduated with an engineer degree (Ingénieur diplômé) in Biological Chemistry in 1969.[1] He was then awarded his Doctor-Engineer Degree in 1971 and his PhD degree in 1977 from INSA Toulouse for research on enzyme immobilization.[4] He served as lecturer in the Department of Biochemical Engineering at INSA Toulouse from 1969 and was later promoted to Assistant Professor (1973) and then Professor (1981).[5]

In 1984, Monsan took a leave from Academia and co-founded BioEurope, a startup company specialized in industrial biocatalysis. There he served as CSO from 1984 to 1989, CEO from 1989 to 1993 and CSO again from 1993 to 1999 after the acquisition of the company by the Solabia Group.[6] In 1993, Monsan returned to INSA Toulouse to lead a research group focusing on the discovery, characterisation and molecular engineering of enzymes, including glucansucrases and lipases. He was also appointed Professor at Ecole des Mines-ParisTech in 1993.[1] From 1999 to 2003 he served as head of Department of Biochemical Engineering at INSA Toulouse. In 2012, he founded the pre-industrial demonstrator “Toulouse White Biotechnology” (TWB) with a €20M grant within the framework of the Investing for the Future national program (also called the grand emprunt) and served as its founding director until 2019.[7][8]

Monsan is presently Professor emeritus at INSA Toulouse and the CEO of Cell-Easy, a start-up specializing in the production of stem cells.[9]

Scientific work

Research by Monsan and his collaborators has focused on biocatalysis, biochemical engineering and enzyme engineering, published in over 230 articles.[10] His fundamental includes investigation of structure-activity relationships of enzymes, (particularly glycoside hydrolases[11][12][13] and lipases[14]), and enzyme discovery by functional metagenomics.[15][16][17] His more applied research involves biocatalysis in non-conventional (anhydrous) media for the synthesis of chemicals (e.g., chiral resolution to obtain enantiopure compounds),[18][19][20] protein engineering (e.g. modification of substrate specificity,[21][22][23] enantioselectivity,[24] or thermostability[25]), methods for enzyme immobilization,[26][27][28] and bioreactor design and development.[29][30][31]

Technology transfer and entrepreneurship

Monsan has been heavily involved in technology transfer throughout his career and is co-inventor of over 60 patents.[32] He has developed several industrial biocatalytic processes for the production of polysaccharides,[33] oligosaccharides[34] and amino acid derivatives.[35] Companies he has co-founded include BioEurope (1984; biocatalytic synthesis of reagents for the food, pharma and nutrition industries; now owned by the Solabia group),[6][dead link‍] Biotrade (1996; waste water treatment) and Genibio (1998, food additives).[36] He is and has been member of the scientific advisory board of several companies, including Danisco Venture,[37] PCAS, [38] or Deinove.[39]

In 2012, Monsan founded the pre-industrial demonstrator Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB),[7] an original institute dedicated to technology transfer through a consortium of public and industrial partners.[40][41] TWB promotes industrial biotechnology and biobased economy through collaborative public/private research and development projects (e.g., THANAPLAST project in partnership with Carbios)[42] and the creation of startups such as EnobraQ (development of yeasts able to metabolize CO2)[43] or Pili (production of bacterial ink).[44]

Awards and memberships

References

  1. ^ a b c "Pierre Monsan - Who's Who in France". www.whoswho.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  2. ^ "TWB Governance". Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB). Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Pierre MONSAN - Professeur émérite à l'INSA et directeur de TWB". Toulouse Biotechnology Institute. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ^ Monsan, Pierre (1977). Immobilisation d'enzymes à l'aide de glutaraldehyde (PhD Thesis). www.sudoc.abes.fr (Thesis). Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Pierre MONSAN - Professeur émérite à l'INSA et directeur de TWB". Toulouse Biotechnology Institute. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Solabia (Cofigéo) reprend BioEurope". Les Echos (in French). 24 November 1992.
  7. ^ a b "Funding of Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB)". agence-nationale-recherche.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  8. ^ "Olivier Rolland nouveau directeur de la plateforme Toulouse White Biotechnology". ladepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  9. ^ "Cell-Easy Becomes the First Private Pharmaceutical Company in France Allowed to Manufacture Stem Cells". www.businesswire.com. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  10. ^ Pierre Monsan's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  11. ^ Mirza, Osman; et al. (2001). "Crystal Structures of Amylosucrase from Neisseria polysaccharea in Complex with d-Glucose and the Active Site Mutant Glu328Gln in Complex with the Natural Substrate Sucrose". Biochemistry. 40 (30): 9032–9039. doi:10.1021/bi010706l. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 11467966.
  12. ^ Albenne, C; et al. (2004). "Molecular basis of the amylose-like polymer formation catalyzed by Neisseria polysaccharea amylosucrase". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 279 (1): 726–734. doi:10.1074/jbc.M309891200. PMID 14570882.
  13. ^ Moulis, C; et al. (2006). "Understanding the polymerization mechanism of glycoside-hydrolase family 70 glucansucrases". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 281 (42): 31254–31267. doi:10.1074/jbc.M604850200. PMID 16864576.
  14. ^ Guieysse, D; et al. (2008). "A structure-controlled investigation of lipase enantioselectivity by a path-planning approach". ChemBioChem. 9 (8): 1308–1317. doi:10.1002/cbic.200700548. PMID 18418817. S2CID 1036558.
  15. ^ Tasse, Lena; et al. (2010). "Functional metagenomics to mine the human gut microbiome for dietary fiber catabolic enzymes". Genome Research. 20 (11): 1605–1612. doi:10.1101/gr.108332.110. ISSN 1549-5469. PMC 2963823. PMID 20841432.
  16. ^ Cecchini, Davide A.; et al. (2013). "Functional metagenomics reveals novel pathways of prebiotic breakdown by human gut bacteria". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e72766. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...872766C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072766. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3774763. PMID 24066026.
  17. ^ Ladevèze, Simon; et al. (2013). "Role of glycoside phosphorylases in mannose foraging by human gut bacteria". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288 (45): 32370–32383. doi:10.1074/jbc.M113.483628. ISSN 1083-351X. PMC 3820872. PMID 24043624.
  18. ^ Monsan, P; Durand, G (1978). "Production of l-lysine by immobilized trypsin. Study of dl-lysine methyl ester resolution". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Enzymology. 523 (2): 477–484. doi:10.1016/0005-2744(78)90050-5. PMID 566119.
  19. ^ Maugard, T; Remaud-Simeon, M; Monsan, P (1998). "Kinetic study of chemoselective acylation of amino-alditol by immobilized lipase in organic solvent: effect of substrate ionization". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Protein Structure and Molecular Enzymology. 1387 (1–2): 177–183. doi:10.1016/S0167-4838(98)00119-8. PMID 9748563.
  20. ^ Guieysse, D; Salagnad, C; Monsan, P; Remaud-Simeon, M (2001). "Resolution of 2-bromo-o-tolyl-carboxylic acid by transesterification using lipases from Rhizomucor miehei and Pseudomonas cepacia". Tetrahedron: Asymmetry. 12 (17): 2473–2480. doi:10.1016/S0957-4166(01)00432-3.
  21. ^ Champion, E; et al. (2009). "Design of alpha-transglucosidases of controlled specificity for programmed chemoenzymatic synthesis of antigenic oligosaccharides". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 131 (21): 7379–7389. doi:10.1021/ja900183h. PMID 19432472.
  22. ^ Champion, Elise; et al. (2012). "Applying Pairwise Combinations of Amino Acid Mutations for Sorting Out Highly Efficient Glucosylation Tools for Chemo-Enzymatic Synthesis of Bacterial Oligosaccharides" (PDF). Journal of the American Chemical Society. 134 (45): 18677–18688. doi:10.1021/ja306845b. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 23072374. S2CID 25315382.
  23. ^ Irague, Romain; et al. (2013). "Combinatorial engineering of dextransucrase specificity". PLOS ONE. 8 (10): e77837. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...877837I. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077837. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3799614. PMID 24204991.
  24. ^ Lafaquière, Vincent; et al. (2009). "Control of Lipase Enantioselectivity by Engineering the Substrate Binding Site and Access Channel" (PDF). ChemBioChem. 10 (17): 2760–2771. doi:10.1002/cbic.200900439. ISSN 1439-4227. PMID 19816890. S2CID 15169723.
  25. ^ Emond, Stéphane; et al. (2008). "Combinatorial engineering to enhance thermostability of amylosucrase". Protein Science. 17 (6): 967–976. doi:10.1110/ps.083492608. ISSN 1469-896X. PMC 2386748. PMID 18441231.
  26. ^ Monsan, P; Durand, G (1971). "Preparation d'invertase insolubilisée par fixation sur bentonite". FEBS Letters (in French). 16 (1): 39–42. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(71)80679-8. PMID 11945894.
  27. ^ Monsan, P; Puzo, G; Mazarguil, H (1975). "Mechanism of glutaraldehyde-protein bond formation". Biochimie. 57 (11–12): 1281–92. doi:10.1016/S0300-9084(76)80540-8. PMID 4153.
  28. ^ Lopez, A; Monsan, P (1980). "Dextran synthesis by immobilized dextran sucrase". Biochimie. 62 (5–6): 323–329. doi:10.1016/S0300-9084(80)80161-1. PMID 17941439.
  29. ^ Monsan, P; Combes, D (1984). "Application of immobilized invertase to continuous hydrolysis of concentrated sucrose solutions". Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 26 (4): 347–351. doi:10.1002/bit.260260409. PMID 18553301. S2CID 603176.
  30. ^ Vallat, I; Monsan, P; Riba, JP (1986). "Maltodextrin hydrolysis in a fluidized-bed immobilized enzyme reactor". Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 28 (2): 151–159. doi:10.1002/bit.260280202. PMID 18555309. S2CID 28676281.
  31. ^ Severac, E; Galy, O; Turon, F; Monsan, P; Marty, A (2011). "Continuous lipase-catalyzed production of esters from crude high-oleic sunflower oil". Bioresource Technology. 102 (8): 4954–4961. Bibcode:2011BiTec.102.4954S. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2011.01.041. PMID 21354788.
  32. ^ "Search results for Pierre Monsan's patents on Google Patents". Google Patents. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  33. ^ US US5876982A, Paul, Francois; Perry, David & Monsan, Pierre, "Strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, subsp. pneumoniae, and a process for the production of a polysaccharide containing L-fucose", published 1996-08-01, issued 1999-03-02, assigned to BioEurope 
  34. ^ WO 1989007148, Paul, F.; Lopez Munguia Canales, A. & Remaud, M. et al., "Process for enzymatic preparation of oligodextrans useful in the manufacture of sugar substitutes, and new oligodextrans", published 1989-08-10, assigned to BioEurope 
  35. ^ US US4956489A, Auriol, Daniel; Paul, François & Monsan, Pierre, "Water-soluble L-tyrosine derivatives and a process for preparing L-tyrosine derivatives", issued 1990-09-11, assigned to BioEurope 
  36. ^ "Presentation of the company". Website of Genibio (in French). Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  37. ^ "Anerkendt biokemiker skal rådgive Danisco Venture | NPinvestor". npinvestor.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  38. ^ "Scientific Commitee [sic] of PCAS". PCAS. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  39. ^ "Scientific advisory board of Deinove". Deinove. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  40. ^ "Toulouse joins the dots for biotechs | Innovators magazine". www.innovatorsmag.com. 14 April 2017. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  41. ^ "Le Toulouse White Biotechnology totalise 18 millions d'euros de contrats". Les Échos (in French). 2016-02-09. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  42. ^ Messenger, Ben (2015-12-08). "Enzymatic Recycling Process to Allow Infinite Recycling of PET Developed in France". waste-management-world.com. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  43. ^ Frinault, Anne (2016-09-28). "EnobraQ: A start-up resulting from TWB to capture and exploit man-made CO2". www.inra.fr. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  44. ^ "SynBio Startup moves to Toulouse to scale up its Bacterial Ink". Labiotech.eu. 2016-07-20. Archived from the original on 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  45. ^ "Le prix Chaptal 2000 à Pierre Monsan". La Dépêche (in French). 24 November 2000.
  46. ^ "Profile of Pierre Monsan". Académie des technologies (in French). Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  47. ^ "Pierre Monsan". Institut Universitaire de France (in French). Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  48. ^ "Executive board, European Federation of Biotechnology". Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  49. ^ "Pierre Monsan a reçu la distinction Biocat 2012". Académie des Technologies (in French). 9 October 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  50. ^ "Décret du 14 novembre 2013 portant promotion et nomination". Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 15 November 2013.
  51. ^ "Talk by Pierre Monsan : " Recent trends in industrial biotechnology "". University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (in French). 17 March 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  52. ^ "Pierre Monsan, président la nouvelle Fédération Française des Biotechnologies". Formule Verte (in French). 23 September 2015.
  53. ^ "Pierre Monsan to be Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite" (PDF). American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). 20 January 2016.
  54. ^ "Pierre Monsan". Académie d'Agriculture de France. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  55. ^ "Enzyme Engineering XXIV, September 24-28, 2017". Engineering Conferences International. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  56. ^ "Décret du 30 décembre 2017 portant promotion et nomination". Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 31 December 2017.