Development Of Innovation
Michel Perez,
Head of Office
The Development of Innovation Office works with researchers to develop their inventions throughout the acceleration and maturation phases by bringing industrial development skills and helping in attracting specific external funding.
This office is composed of scientists with strong background in industrial research and development.
The Development of Innovation Office works in close collaboration with the Business Development Division, which allows a better understanding of the expectations and needs of our industrial partners, an essential step to propose targeted scientific collaborations and to suggest ambitious development axes.
See More « Accelerator of Innovation »
Biography
Dr. Perez, PhD, joined the Institut Pasteur in 2019 as head of the Development of Innovation Office and head of Therapeutic Innovation development. In this role, he follows the most advanced therapeutic projects of the institute and manages the orientation towards valuable assets for pharmaceutical development. He is also involved in earlier projects that could address breakthrough innovations in fields such as rare diseases, antimicrobial resistance and gene therapy.
Prior to this position, he was a Senior Director in the French pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre in charge of pre-clinical research programs. Dr. Perez spent more than 25 years in the pharma industry, from research to preclinical development, in fields such as oncology, cardiovascular and central nervous system. During that period, he had the opportunity to work on many projects based on small molecules, antibodies or conjugates. He also had the chance to drive many collaborations not only just with academic institutions such as the CNRS or Universities but also with biotechs and startup.
Before joining Pierre Fabre, Dr. Perez worked as a scientist at the Eisai Research Institute in the Boston area. He is co-author of many articles and patents and has obtained two awards during his career.
Diagnostic
François Rieunier
Head of Diagnostic Innovation Development
François Rieunier joined the Technology Transfer and Industrial Partnership Department in 2023 as Head of Dianostic Innovation Development.
After a PhD from the University of Montpellier, in Chemistry applied to Biology, François joined the Biological Development team at Sanofi Diagnostic Pasteur in Marnes la Coquette.
He participated in the development of several human diagnostic tests for the detection of viral pathologies mainly related to HIV (AIDS) and HCV (hepatitis).
He then held various positions within the Bio-Rad company for the development and production of biologicals for human and veterinary diagnostic kits.
During more than 25 years dedicated to diagnostics he developed numerous collaborations with academic partners and private institutions.
The work carried out during this period has also been the subject of patents in the fields of virology, cardiology and diabetes.
Vaccine
Dr. Sotiris Missailidis
Head of Vaccine Innovation Development
Sotiris is managing the vaccine portfolio of the Institute Pasteur and leading the Innovation development of vaccine projects from basic research to clinical development, spin-off activities and industrial partnerships for vaccine-related projects. Sotiris joined the Institute Pasteur in 2024, having previously led for seven years, as a Director of Technological Development and Innovation, the Research, Development and Innovation of vaccines, biologics and diagnostics at Bio-Manguinhos Institute of Technology in Immunobiologics at the Fiocruz Foundation in Brazil.
Biography
Sotiris brings 30 years of experience in applied research focused on the development of vaccines, therapeutic and diagnostic applications. He is a trained Biologist, with MSc and DPhil in Chemistry from the University of York and post-doctoral studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Nottingham) and Molecular biology (Cambridge) in the UK. He was an academic at the Open University, UK, visiting professor at the Universities of Lisbon (Portugal) and Paris (France), as well as UFRJ and UERJ in Brazil and EACR fellow at the University of Patras (Greece). He was founder and director of Euzoia Ltd (UK) and Naxos DNA Services (Brazil) and Senior Researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC) and Bio-Manguinhos at Fiocruz.