The Matrix Metalloproteinases

Dr. Claudiu T. Supuran received his BSc in chemistry from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania (1987) and PhD in chemistry at the same university in 1991. In 1990, he became Assistant and then Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bucharest. He was Visiting Scholar at the University of Florida, Gainesville, United States, at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, and Visiting Professor at University of La Plata, Argentina. In 1995 he moved to the University of Florence, Italy, where he is currently Full Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Medicine and Child Health. His main research interests include design of enzyme inhibitors and activators, heterocyclic chemistry, chemistry of sulfonamides, sulfamates, and sulfamides, biologically active organo-element derivatives, QSAR studies, X-ray crystallography of metallo-enzymes, metal complexes with biologically active ligands (metal-based drugs), carbonic anhydrases, cyclooxygenases, serine proteases, matrix metalloproteinases, bacterial proteases, and amino acid derivatives among others. He has published more than 1900 papers in these fields.

Dr. Antoine Dufour has joined the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Dufour obtained his BA (Hons.) in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Oswego, his MSc and PhD in Chemical Biology from the Stony Brook University (2010). He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry at the University of British Columbia in 2017 under the supervision of Dr. Chris Overall. Antoine’s research is focused on the role of proteases in immunity and novel drug target identification in inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases, with a particular interest in quantitative mass spectrometry and systems biology. He owns two patents for the inhibitory methods of protease-mediated cell migration. His research program aims to understand the key mechanisms of inflammatory and immune responses in musculoskeletal diseases. Antoine has already published 20 journal papers, 3 book chapters and has an outstanding track record of academic awards. Dr. Dufour’s lab and office space is located at the Centre for Mobility and Joint Health on the third floor of the HRIC building.