Clotilde POLICAR

Professor, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL university
Dean of the sciences education of Ecole Normale Supérieure
Deputy director of the Laboratoire des BioMolécules (LBM), UMR7203, CNRS-ENS-PSL-SU

ENS-PSL
Département de chimie: 24, rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France
Direction des études sciences: 45, rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris, France

Email: clotilde.policar@ens.psl.eu
Phone: +33 144322424
Office: E037

Website of the research group “metals in biology”: https://www.chimie.ens.fr/bic/ and https://www.chimie.ens.fr/recherche/laboratoire-lbm/peptides-glycoconjugues-metaux-biologie/bioinorganic-chemistry/  — Note (April 2022) this link is momentarily unavailable. Pages under repair.

Short bio

Clotilde Policar was trained in organic, inorganic and physical chemistry, after which she specialized in bio-inorganic chemistry. After completing Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Mansuy and Dr. Isabelle Artaud at Paris-Sud 11 and Paris 5 universities on mimics of a metalloprotein (manganese peroxidase), she worked as a post-doctoral fellow on high-field electron paramagnetic resonance to characterize complexes a spectroscopic mimics of the Mn cluster from the oxygen evolving center in the photosystem II with Dr. Sun Un and Dr. William Rutherford. She was then appointed an assistant professor at Paris-Sud 11 (now Paris Saclay university), where she dedicated her work to the development of Mn-complexes reproducing the activity of superoxide-dismutase (SOD). The initial focus was the spectroscopic characterization of Mn-OO adducts involved in the catalytic cycle for superoxide dismutation. She became an associate professor in 2005. Because the metalloproteins SODs are involved in the cellular protection against oxidative stress, the next step she took was to study these compounds in cellular models of oxidative stress. Since 2008, she has a professorship at the Ecole Normale Supérieure—Paris Sciences et Lettres, where she has set up a thematic group in bioinorganic chemistry or more precisely in inorganic biological and cellular chemistry. This emerging thematic is dedicated to the direct study of inorganic compounds in biological environments. Her main current interests focus, on the one hand, on the design of manganese-based anti-oxidants and their evaluation in cells. On the other hand, her group has initiated a new topic with the development of metal-based probes, including metal–carbonyl as multimodal bioprobes and that they validated as efficient multimodal IR, fluorescence and X-fluorescence for bio-imaging.

Education and professional experience

• Short CV and detailed publication list: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0255-1650
• 2021: elected as president of the  SBIC (https://www.sbichem.org/)
  Since 2020: dean of the science education at the Ecole normale supérieure
  2019-2020: responsible of the two-year master programme in Chemistry and Life Science (parcours Chimie et sciences du vivant du master de chimie de Paris Centre)
  2019: elected member of the SBIC council (https://www.sbichem.org/) aaa
  2017-2021: member of the editorial board of Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry
  2016-2020: deputy director of the Institut de Chimie du CNRS in charge of interdisciplinarity, work in the MITI-CNRS (mission pour les initiatives transverses et l’interdisciplinarité)
  2015-2017: member of the advisory board of Inorganic Chemistry (ACS)
  2015-2020: deputy chair of the FrenchBIC   (French network in BioInorganic Chemistry, network of 25 laboratories)
  2014-2020:  dean of the studies at the department of chemistry of ENS, co-responsible for the international relationships
  Since 2014:  deputy director of the Research Unit LBM
  2008: nomination as a professor at the ENS
  2005-2008: associate professor, Paris-Sud 11 university (now Paris Saclay)
  2005 (nov.): habilitation thesis, Paris-Sud 11 university
  1996-2005: assistant professor, Paris-Sud 11 university, Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux d’Orsay (ICMMO)

Research interests

• • Bioinorganic chemistry
  • Superoxide dismutase mimics, superoxide, cellular models of oxidative stress, metal-based anti-oxidants
  • Metal-carbonyles as multimodal probes for imaging: IR-spectromicroscopy, micro X-ray fluorescence and classical fluorescence
  • Metals in biology: intracellular detection,  metal imaging
  • Oxidative stress

About a recent project funded by ANR (nation research agency): https://www.ens.psl.eu/actualites/des-catalyseurs-bio-inspires-pour-lutter-contre-le-stress-oxydant

Awards, distinctions, scientific societies membership, and contracts

• President elect of the SBIC in October 2021
• Elected member of the international council of the SBIC in October 2019
• Member of the Société chimique de France and of the FrenchBIC
• Research contracts since 2008:
  -ANR contracts (National Funding Agency) : two as a PI (CATMAN, 2021-2025 ; MAGIC, 2015-2021) ; four ANR contracts as a partner (MOBIDIC, PI P. Seksik (2022-2026) ; MnHFPELDOR, PI L. Tabares, 2012-2015, Take Care, PI M. Robert, 2011-13 ; Metabact, PI I. Artaud, 2011-13)
  -Qlife initiative: project MAIN (2021-2022) as PI (Mn-Based Antioxidant evaluation in INflammatory Epithelial Cells)
  -Research contract from FRM as PI (Fondation pour la recherche médicale, Appels Pionniers de la recherche Etudes Physico-chimiques innovantes pour la biologie et la médecine- 2016-2020)
  -Research fellowship from the Association François Aupetit (inflammatory bowel disease patients) obtained in 2015
  -Paris-Sciences-Lettres research contract (PI, 2014-15)
  -CNRS-contract Interdisciplinary work (interface chemistry-physic-biology), support for risky research (2009)
  -Young researcher grant (ACI jeune chercheur) (2005-08)
  -Since 2008: more than 15 projects selected on synchrotron beamlines (SOLEIL, APS, Aladdin).
• 1997: first prize “Creation” for the French Ministry of Research for the project Le ticket d’Archimède (posters of popularisation of science in the Parisian Metro), project directed by C. Policar from 1995 to 1998.

Supervised students and post-doctorants

• Former:
  CONGRATULATIONS to
  Paul Demay-Drouhard, who was selected as a CNRS researcher (section 12) in 2022
  Koudedja Coulibaly, who was recruited by Air Liquide in 2021
  Emilie Mathieu, who was appointed as a CNRS researcher (section 16, LCC Toulouse) in 2021
  Sarah Hostachy, who was appointed as a CEAEA researcher (LCBM, Grenoble) in 2020
• Current:
  -Jean Bouvet, PhD since October 2020, co-supervized with Prof. S. Demignot, IPV fellowship
  -Rose Hoste, PhD since October 2017, ENS fellowship

Teaching

• Bioinorganic chemistry: M1-ENS and master de chimie de Paris Centre, parcours chemistry and life science
• Metals in biology: M2-master de chimie de Paris Centre, parcours chimie moléculaire
• History of Sciences: organisation of the annual conference day “Journée Bram”

Selected publications

Recent review: Superoxide dismutase mimics: from the tool box of the chemists to cellular studies, Clotilde Policar*, Jean Bouvet, Hélène C. Bertrand, Nicolas Delsuc, Curr. Op. Chem. Biol., 2022, 67:102109, IF(2021) 8.82, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2021.102109 Emily Que ‘sinvitation

Inertness of superoxide dismutase mimics Mn(II) complexes based on an open-chain ligand, bioactivity and detection in intestinal epithelial cells, Gabrielle Schanne, Martha Zoumpoulaki, Géraldine Gazzah, Amandine Vincent, Hugues Preudhomme, Ryszard Lobinski, Sylvie Demigno, Philippe Seksik, Nicolas Delsuc, Clotilde Policar*, Oxidative Medecine and Cellular Longevity, 2022, 2022, Article ID 3858122, 16 pages, IF(2021) 6.543 ; https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3858122

Intracellular location matters: rationalization of the anti-inflammatory activity of a manganese(II) superoxide dismutase mimic complex, Emilie Mathieu, Anne-Sophie Bernard, Elodie Quévrain, Martha Zoumpoulaki, Sébastien Iriart, Caroline Lung-Soong, Barry Lai, Kadda Medjoubi, Lucas Henry, Sounderya Nagarajan, Florent Poyer, Andrea Scheitler, Ivana Ivanović-Burmazović, Sergio Marco, Andrea Somogyi, Philippe Seksik, Nicolas Delsuc, Clotilde Policar, Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 7885 – 7888, https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CC03398G

Graftable SCoMPIs enable the labeling and X-Ray fluorescence imaging of proteins, Sarah Hostachy, Marie Masuda, Takayuki Miki, Itaru Hamachi, Sandrine Sagan, Olivier Lequin, Kadda Medjoubi, Andrea Somogyi, Nicolas Delsuc and Clotilde Policar*, Chem. Sci. 2018 9, 4483-4487, doi 10.1039/C8SC00886H

A cell penetrant manganese SOD-mimic is able to complement MnSOD and exerts an anti-inflammatory effect on cellular and animal models of inflammatory bowel diseases, Emilie Mathieu, Anne-Sophie Bernard, Nicolas Delsuc, Elodie Quévrain, Géraldine Gazzah, Barry Lai, Florian Chain, Philippe Langella, Maria Bachelet, Joelle Masliah, Philippe Seksik, and Clotilde Policar*, Inorg Chem. 2017, 56, 2545-2555, IF 4.82 (2016), doi: dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02695

Entasis Through Hook-and-Loop Fastening in a Glycoligand with Cumulative Weak Forces Stabilizing Cu^I, Ludivine Garcia, Federico Cisnetti, Natacha Gillet, Régis Guillot, Magali Aumont-Niciase, Jean-Philip Piquemal, Michel Desmadril, François Lambert, Clotilde Policar*, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2015, 137, 1141−1146, DOI: 10.1021/ja510259p,

Subcellular Imaging in the Mid-IR of a Metal-Carbonyl Moiety using Photothermal Induced Resonance, Clotilde Policar*, Jenny-Birgitta Waern, Marie-Aude Plamont, Sylvain Clède, Céline Mayet, Rui Prazeres, Jean-Michel Ortega, Anne Vessières, Alexandre Dazzi, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 860-864; doi : 10.1002/anie.201003161, Highlighted with an inside cover.

Publications