Expertise and current research performed: Neurokin is a new start-up company which develops a new generation of neuroprotectants, kinase inhibitors, for the treatment and prevention of acute neurological diseases such as stroke and epilepsy from different families of chemical compounds. Neurokin has an expertise on neuronal death related to excitotoxicity.Excitotoxicity plays a central role in neuronal death associated with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke and epilepsy. Neurokin has already developped models of excitotoxicity in vitro: mixed neuronal and hippocampal organotypic cultures, as well as in vivo models of cerebral ischemia. Neurokin has already collaboration with INSERM (U29, Marseille, France) on electrophysiology of these neuroprotectants and CNRS (UPR-9042, Roscoff, France) on identification of new kinase inhibitors. Neurokin aim is to identify kinases inhibitors as neuroprotectants, and has therefore developed an extensive screening on different kinase on models of excitotoxicity of crescent complexity whether in vitro or in vivo. On these models, Neurokin has already identified an active compound in an in vivo model of stroke. Furthermore this compound is able to protect neuronal network and synaptic activity. A part of this work is developed within the European consortium on kinase inhibitors (FP-6).

Facilities/Equipment: Neurokin has a full access to the INMED’s equipment and facilities including: tissue culture and surgery rooms, confocal microscopes, animal facilities, and all equipment for histology (cryostat, vibratome,...) and electrophysiology set.

Personnel involved in the project

Principal investigator: Bénédicte Menn (F), Ph.D. Degree in oncology and neuroscience. Actual position: Project Leader Neurokin since 2003. Past position: Post-doctoral fellow (UCSF, Stem Cells Dpt, Alvarez-Buylla lab). Working in the field since 1997. Research interests are: Excitotoxicity, neuronal death, stroke, stem cells, signal transduction, neuronal differentiation

Serge Timsit (M), M.D., Ph. D. Degree in Neurology and Neuroscience. Actual position: Neurokin founder, scientific director, and neurologist. Past position: medical director in bio-tech company; post-doctoral fellow (INSERM U29, Ben-Ari lab). Working in the field since 1990. Research interests are: stroke, excitotoxicity, neuronal death, cell cycle, kinase inhibitors. Damien Rei (M). PhD student. Degree in biology (master). Research interests: epilepsy models, cell cycle. Technician to be recruited

Recent relevant publications/patents

1.        Menn B. et al. (in preparation). Cell cycle kinases inhibitors prevent excitotoxic neuronal death in models of epilepsy and stroke.

2.        Timsit S. et al. (1999). Increased cylin D1 in vulnerable neurons in the hippocampus after ischemia and epilepsy: a modulator of in vivo programmed cell death ? Eur. J. Neurosci. 11:263-278.

3.        Menn B. et al. (1998). Differential expression of TrkC catalytic and noncatalytic isoforms suggests that they act independently or in association. J Comp Neurol 401:47-64.

4.        Khrestchatisky M., Timsit S. et al. (1996) Neuronal death and damage repair: roles of protoncogenes and cell cycle-related proteins. In Pharmacology of Cerebral ischemia (J. Krieglstein, ed.), pp 41-56. Medpharm Scientific Publishers, Stuttgart.

5.        Patent: Timsit et al..: Method of treating and preventing acute neural lesions with substances that modulate the expression or function of a protein involved in the cell cycle and pharmaceutical preparations containing such substances. FR00/03673.