FRANTZ L. JEAN-FRANCOIS

Home: **** *** **. ********* **., Apt. B-15

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

E-Mail: lmbper@r.postjobfree.com

Phone: (850) 728 - 0590

Work: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

1800 E. Paul Dirac Drive

Tallahassee, Florida 32310

E-Mail: lmbper@r.postjobfree.com

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Chemical-Physics, European Institute of Chemistry and Biology, University of Bordeaux, France (October, 2008).

Principal investigator: Prof. Erick. J. Dufourc

Synthesis, structural and dynamic studies of peptides involved in Cancer and antimicrobial peptides in interaction with models membranes by circular dichroïsm, solid state and high resolution NMR, polarised ATR, Patch clamp and all atom molecular dynamics.

M.S. Structural Biochemistry, University of Bordeaux, France (June, 2005).

B.S. Biochemistry, University of Bordeaux, France (June, 2003).

EXPERIENCE

Postdoctoral Associate, (January, 2009 – July, 2012)

Biophysics, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory/Florida State University (2012).

Principal Investigator: Prof. Timothy A. Cross

Structural characterization and interaction studies between membrane proteins involved in Tuberculosis using solid state NMR and CW EPR.

• Developed a method to characterize transmembrane peptide interaction;

• Performed molecular biology to obtain plasmids from a genomic DNA;

• Expressed and purified by FPLC several membrane proteins in Escherichia coli;

• Reconstituted membrane proteins into model membranes;

• Prepared uniformly oriented NMR samples on glass slides;

• Performed solid-state NMR PISEMA and CPMAS (DARR, REDOR) on these peptides using different membrane compositions;

• Solved peptide structure using XPLOR-NIH;

• Performed continuous wave and pulsed EPR on these peptides embedded in membranes.

Graduate Research Assistant, (2004 – 2008)

• Discovered a new mechanism for antimicrobial peptide action

• Chemically synthesised and purified by RP-HPLC several peptides, including a 15 amino acids antimicrobial peptide and a 35 amino acids 75% hydrophobic transmembrane peptide;

• Performed circular dichroïsm, FTIR-ATR, PMIRRAS, on peptides in different membrane media

• Performed solid-state NMR (2H and 31P) and high resolution proton NMR spectroscopy on these peptides upon different membrane compositions

Dr. Frantz L. Jean-François

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Internship, European Institute of Chemistry and Biology (IECB) with Dr. E. J. Dufourc (2004)

Characterization of oriented bicelles with their normal parallel to the magnetic field by solid state NMR

• Prepared bicelles disk aligned perpendicular to the magnetic field and characterized their phase diagram by using 31P solid state NMR

Internship, Institute of Biochemistry and Cellular Genetics (IBGC) with Prof. Michel Rigoulet, (2003)

Involvement of the yeast cAMP protein kinase Tpk3p in the regulation of mitochondrial enzymatic content during growth

• Isolated mitochondria from yeast and then measured their respiratory rate

• Performed Western blots

SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES

Scientific software: NMR: XWIN-NMR, Topspin, Sparky, XPLOR-NIH

Circular dichroïsm: CD-MAX, ATR-FTIR and PMIRRAS: GROMACS, OMNIC

Molecular Modeling: GROMACS, MD, and Maestro

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Jean-Francois, F., Dai, J., Lu, Y., Song, L., Zhou, H-X., Cross, T.A. (2012) Determination of transmembrane helices heterodimer packing motif using topology and sparse distance restrains. JACS.To be submitted.

Dufourc, E.J., Buchoux, S., Toupé, J., Sani, M.A., Jean-François, F., Khemtémourian, L., Grélard, A., Loudet-Courrèges, C., Laguerre, M., Odaert, B. (2012) Membrane Interacting Peptides. Review. Submitted.

Jean-François, F., Desbat, B., and Dufourc, E. J. (2009) Selectivity of Cateslytin for fungi: The role of acidic lipid-ergosterol membrane fluidity in antimicrobial action, FASEB 11, 3692-3701.

Jean-François, F., Elezgaray, J., Berson, P., Vacher, P., and Dufourc, E. J. (2008) Pore Formation Induced by an Antimicrobial Peptide: Electrostatic Effects, Biophysical Journal 95, 5748-5756.

Jean-François, F., Castano, S., Desbat, B., Odaert, B., Roux, M., Metz-Boutigue, M. H., and Dufourc, E. J. (2008) Aggregation of Cateslytin beta-Sheets on Negatively Charged Lipids Promotes Rigid Membrane Domains: A New Mode of Action for Antimicrobial Peptides? Biochemistry 47, 6394-6402.

Dr. Frantz L. Jean- François

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SELECTED ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Jean-François, F., Mirck, A., Song, L., Rubin, E. and Cross, T.A. (2012) “Hetero-oligomerization Between Two Membrane Peptides Involved in Tuberculosis: MgtC and MgtR” in 56th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA.

Jean-François, F., Cross, T.A. (2010) “Membrane biophysics through peptide-membrane interactions” Invited speaker at the University of Melbourne, Bio21 Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Jean-François, F., Elezgaray, J., Castano, S., Roux, M., Metz-boutigue, M.H., Dufourc, E.J. (2009) “An antimicrobial peptide action: Selective domains formation of negatively charged lipids by Cateslytin” in Research Group on Lipidomics Conference. Thesis prize award. Rennes, France.

Jean-François, F., Elezgaray, J., Metz-boutigue, M.H., Dufourc, E.J. (2009) “Disordered Pore Formation At Rigid/Fluid Boundary Zones as a New Mechanism For Peptide-Membrane Interaction with the Beta-sheeted Antimicrobial Peptide Cateslytin” at the 53rd Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Boston, USA.

Jean-François, F., Elezgaray, J., Castano, S., Roux, M., Metz-boutigue, M.H., Vacher, P., Dufourc, E.J. (2008) “An antimicrobial peptide mode of action through spectroscopic methods” at the European Peptide Society Conference, Helsinki, Finland.

Jean-François, F., Elezgaray, J., Castano, S., Roux, M., Metz-boutigue, M.H., Vacher, P., Dufourc, E.J. (2007) “Enlightenments into the action of Cateslytin, a new antimicrobial peptide” at the Chemistry and Biology membranes workshop, Plencia, Spain.

SELECTED POSTERS

Jean-François, F., Dai, J., Lu, Y., Fajer, P., Song, L., Zhou, H.X., Cross, T.A. (2012) “Transmembrane heterodimer packing using topology and sparse distance restrains” at the 53rd ENC, Miami, USA.

Jean-François, F., Dai, J., Lu, Y., Myrick, A., Song, L., Rubin, E., Cross, T.A. (2012) “The use of Physics to Understand Tuberculosis,” at the Southeastern Mycobacteria Meeting, Atlanta, USA.

Jean-François, F., Cross, T.A. (2011) “Understanding the potential interaction of transmembrane helices from MgtC and MgtR” at the 55th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, USA.

Dr. Frantz L. Jean- François

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Jean-François, F., Cross, T.A. (2010) “Peptide-peptide interaction within the membrane using PISEMA based experiments” at the ICMRBS, Cairns, Australia.

Jean-François, F., Cross, T.A. (2010) “Is MgtC a potential drug target in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, inhibited by MgtR? Peptide interaction study using PISEMA” at the Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference, Daytona, USA.

Jean-François, F., Elezgaray, J., Castano, S., Roux, M., Metz-boutigue, M.H., Vacher, P., Dufourc, E.J. (2007) “Antimicrobial Cateslytin promotes rigid domains formation when interacting as beta-sheets on negative membranes” at the 6th European Biophysics Congress, London, England.

LANGUAGES

English: Fluent

French: Fluent

German: Basic knowledge

Chinese: Basic knowledge

MEMBERSHIPS

Biophysical Society

American Chemical Society (ACS)

European Federation for Science and Technology of Lipids (Euro Fed Lipids)

Leadership Toastmaster member

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