Discovery of liver disease therapeutics and targets using prognostic gene signatures

Hosted by Javier Cubero, Universidad Complutense de Madrid & CIBEREHD

Professor of Medicine
Director, Institute of Translational Medicine and Liver Disease, Inserm U1110
Director, Laboratory of Excellence HepSYS, University of Strasbourg
Chief, Gastroenterology Service, Strasbourg University Hospitals, France
Founder and advisor, Alentis Therapeutics, Switzerland

Thomas F. Baumert, MD is Professor of Medicine, director of the Institute of Translational Medicine and Liver Disease, Inserm U1110, director of the Laboratory of Excellence HEPSYS at the University of Strasbourg and Chief of Gastroenterology at the Center for Digestive Disease and Hepatology, Strasbourg University Hospitals. He received his MD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Following his doctoral thesis at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and his internship in Internal Medicine at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, he was a fellow at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Liver Diseases Branch at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA. He subsequently joined the Department of Medicine at the University Hospital in Freiburg, Germany to become a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist, associate professor and to establish his laboratory focussing on the molecular pathogenesis of viral hepatitis and liver disease. He then relocated to the University of Strasbourg in France as full Professor of Medicine to create and head a new Inserm research unit and establish a highly recognized program in translational hepatology. Furthermore, he spent an academic year as research scholar the BROAD Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

His research focuses on the modelling and discovery of the cell circuits underlying fibrosis progressing to cancer using liver disease as a model. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of disease biology enabled his laboratory to uncover novel compounds and strategies for treatment of fibrosis and cancer which have been translated to the patient. He has received many awards including the Hans Popper Young Investigator Award, the Chair of Excellence and Laboratory of Excellence Awards of the French National Research Agency, the Infectious Disease Award of the German Infectious Disease Society, the Prix Galien, the Mémain-Pelletier Award of the French Academy of Science, the Inserm Research Award and the Marigny Cancer Award. He has published more than 400 scientific articles including N. Engl. J. Med., Lancet, Cell, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology as a senior author and is an inventor on 25 patents and patent applications. He has raised 40+ M$ in funding including support by the NCI, NIDDK, NIAID, DoD, the European Union (ERC, H2020), the French Research Agency ANR as well as several private foundations and industry.

Thomas Baumert is Associate Editor of the Journal of Hepatology and serves as a member of the editorial board of several journals in the field of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Virology. He is a member of the US, European and Asian Liver Societies (AASLD, EASL, APASL), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and elected member of the American Association of Physicians (AAP). Furthermore, he is the founder, advisor and permanent guest to the board of Alentis Therapeutics – a clinical stage biotech company developing novel therapeutics for fibrotic diseases and cancer. omas holds an M.D. from the University of Heidelberg and is a board-certified and licensed internist and gastroenterologist.