Rodrigue Rossignol is one of the award winners SPARKee 2023

Rodrigue Rossignol, winner of the SPARK 2023 award, is dedicated to support families with RASopathies, a group of rare developmental diseases by working on an innovative drug candidate.

Read the article about Claire Leibler, one of the award winners “SPARKee 2023winners revealed! Focus on Claire Leibler”.

The doctor has been carefully selected to meet program criteria such as an unmet medical need, high degree of innovation, robust data on disease-relevant models of the project and a high probability of reaching patients. In addition to receive financial support of 75,000 euros, he will also benefit from mentorship by industry experts throughout the project.

As research director at the National Institute for Science and Medical Research (Inserm) Rodrigue Rossignol co-leads the ‘Rare diseases, Metabolism and Genetics (MRGM-U1211)laboratory. Since 2015, he has also founded Cellomet, a contract research organization (CRO) managed by Dr. Nivea Dias Amoedo and supported by Adera and the University of Bordeaux. This CRO offer metabolic and bioenergetics analyses for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

His area of expertise is energy metabolism and its modulation in physiology and pathologies. Dr. Rossignol compares his research work to that of an expert engineer investigating the powerhouses of the human body, commonly known as ‘mitochondria’. His group demonstrated that in patients with Costello, Cardio-facio-cutaneous and Noonan syndromes, the cardiac disease is caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to sudden death. Currently, there is no medication to prevent hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and the only options are to reduce the work demand on the heart, which does not repair the bioenergetic damage.

Rodrigue Rossignol works in collaboration with Professor Didier Lacombe (CHU Bordeaux; U1211), and the “Costello CFC” patient association created in Bordeaux and chaired by Serge Arnoulet. After approval by the ethics committee, the young patients with RAsoapthies came to the medical genetics department to have a small piece of skin taken under local anesthesia, allowing Rodrigue Rossignol and his team to cultivate skin fibroblasts carrying the genetic and the mitochondrial defects in order to decipher the mechanism underpinning metabolic alterations. Using a variety of RASopathy disease models, the team has developed a drug that activates mitochondrial recycling.

From the research to the start-up ANKIAL

Rodrigue Rossignol, along with his three associates have established a startup named ANKIAL. It has been incubated at Chrysa-link (Aquitaine Science Transfert), where he and teammates received training in intellectual property, finance, management, drug development, and more. He proceeded to a second incubation at Unitec (Bordeaux).

As the CEO of ANKIAL, he has already assembled a team of four experts in genetic disease, cardiac medicine, finance, and a chief operating officer. After raising the necessary funds, his goal is to advance drug development toward a clinical trial.

His choice aligns with the PACTE law, which allows researchers to dedicate some time to launch a start-up as a partner or manager, in order to valorize the patent owned by Inserm and universities.

SPARK enables Rodrigue Rossignol to carry out additional pre-clinical tests, accelerating drug development.

His journey demonstrates that teamwork is essential, just as much as support and guidance are paramount. "Everything happens in Bordeaux, so researchers don't need to move to other French cities."

Career opportunities for PhD’students

SPARK opens up significant career prospects for doctoral students, offering them the opportunity to be hired by start-ups, promoting their professional integration and contributing to the dynamism of the pharmaceutical sector.

If you, too, are a researcher and wish to apply for the next SPARK selection, please visit our website for the latest updated dates. The next session will be in spring 2024.