Targeting of Nucleic Acids
- Group members
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Maria Duca Dr. Maria Duca
CNRS Research Scientist
Director of Targeting of Nucleic Acids' Lab
President of the French Medicinal Chemistry society (SCT)
Director of GDR RNAAudrey Di Giorgio Dr. Audrey Di Giorgio
Assistant Professor - Université Côte d'Azur
Nadia Patino Pr. Nadia Patino
Full Professor - Université Côte d'Azur
Stéphane Azoulay Dr. Stéphane Azoulay
Full Professor - Université Côte d'Azur
Vice-President at Université Côte d'Azur
Students and Post-docs
Benjamin BOUDET, PhD (CIFRE Sanofi, 2023-2026)
Eden GUEDU, PhD (MESR, 2023-2026)
Kateryna DEMCHENKO, PhD (MESR, 2024-2027)
Elena MENCARELLI, PhD (MSCA Fellowship, 2025-2028)
Alice DEPECKER, PhD (ANR Fellowship, 2025-2028)
Marta CASCIARI, PhD (University of Perugia, 2025-2026)
Nadiia DEMIANYK M2 studentCharline POUILLAUDE (IE, 2026)
Alumni
Sarra OUNI, ATER (UniCA, 2024-2025)
Paul JURKIEWIEZ, IE (Prématuration CNRS, 2024-2025)
Fariba PAM, M2 (IDEX UniCA, 2025)
Eleonora TESINI, PhD (Chiesi Farmaceutici, 2022-2025)
Jihed AZZOUZ, PhD (MENRT, 2021-2024)
Kateryna DEMCHENKO, M2 student
Now PhD student in the team
Sofia CRESPI, M2 student
Marc Alexandre D'ELIA, IE
Now working for Selvita, Poland
Mélanie PERNAK, PhD (CIFRE Sanofi, 2019-2022)
Now post-doc in the group of J. Schneekloth at NIH (USA)Iryna SCHECHELOVA, PhD (COFUND-H2020, 2019-2023)
Marc PANOSETTI, PhD (IIT-UCA, 2020-2023)
Now post-doc at the University of Oxford, UK in the group of Pr. Angela Russel
Sandra KOVACHKA, PhD (COFUND-H2020, 2019-2023)
Now post-doc at Scripps Institute in the group of Pr. Matthew Disney, Florida, USA
Enzo MARTIN, IE
Now Research Assistant at the University of Auckland, New Zealand
Malik ZERGUINE, M2 (IDEX, 2023)
Now PhD student at the University of Oslo, Norway
Maurinne BONNET, PhD (MENRT, 2019-2022)
Now post-doc in Garner's lab at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry of the University of Michigan, USA
Dr. Céline MARTIN, PhD (ANR Innovantibio, 2018-2021)
Now post-doc at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, USAMatthieu JORANDON, M2 (IDEX, 2022)
Now PhD student at the Institute of Chemistry of Nice, France
Sylvain POULET, PhD (IDEX UCA, 2018-2022)
Eleonora TESINI, Master 2 (University of Bologna, 2021)
Now PhD student in our group
Dr. Chloé MAUCORT, PhD (Institut de Recherche Servier, 2017-2020)
Now Project Leader at NovalixMarc PANOSETTI, Master 2 (ANR, 2020)
now PhD student in TNA groupAlessandro MONTI, Master 2 (University of Bologna, 2020)
now PhD student at the University of Vienna (Austria)Dr. Benjamin ZAGIEL, Post-doc (INCa, 2019-2020)
now ATER at the Univesity of Lille (France)Samy AOUAD, Master 2 (IDEX UCA, 2019)
Dr. Klara ARADI, Post-doc (INCa, 2018)
now post-doc at Research Center for Natural Sciences, Institute of Organic Chemistry, HungaryDr. Anita RAYAR, Post-doc (UCA, 2017-2018)
Now scientist at Laboratoires ServierSerena DE PICCOLI, Master 2 (UCA, 2018)
now PhD student at ISIS in StrasbourgDr. Thi Phuong Anh TRAN, PhD (French Embassy in Vietnam, 2013-2016)
Now teacher at Ho Chi Min University in VietnamDr. Duc Duy VO, Post-doc (ANR, 2012-2014)
Now Principal Investigator at Uppsala University in SwedenDr. Jean-Patrick JOLY, PhD (Région PACA, 2011-2014)
Now Research Engineer at Institut de Chimie Radicalaire (ICR) in MarseilleCoralie CHARRAT, Master 2 (ANR, 2012)
Lorena ZARA, Sujet : Master 2 (2011)
now PhD student at the University of BordeauxGuillaume MATA, Master 2 (2010)
After a PhD at ETH in Zurich, he is now post-doc at the University of Stanford - Latest news
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The last paper of the team is now published on J. Med. Chem.
Check it out!
Panosetti, M., Vecchio, D., Maucort, C., Mongiardini, V., Di Giorgio, A., Grimaldi, B., Duca, M. Reversing the Hypoxic Adaptive Response in Breast Cancer Cells through Small-Molecule Inhibition of Oncogenic MicroRNA-210. J. Med. Chem. 2026 69, 2814.MedChem Frontiers 2025 Maria Duca is an invited speaker for ACSMEDI-EFMC MedChem Frontiers conference in Chicago in 2025!
Novalix Maria Duca is an invited speaker at the 11th Novalix conference about Biophysics in Drug Discovery in Strasbourg in 2025 !
Nature Reviews Chemistry Check our review about RNA targeting using small synthetic compounds published in Nature Reviews Chemistry!
JMedChem 2023 The last article from the team is now published in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (American Chemical Society)!!!
Dr. Maria Duca will present the team's work at the EMBO workshop in Chemical Biology in September 2024 !!Chemistry European Journal publication 2023 Check our work in collaboration with APSM team published in Chemistry A European Journal and the work about De-novo design of pre-miR-21 maturation inhibitors has been performed in collaboration with Pr. Véronique Michelet team !!
TNA team's results were presented at ACSMEDI-EFMC MedChemFrontiers conference in Boston !!JMedChem 2023 The last article from the team is now published in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (American Chemical Society)!!!
ChemPlusChem The last paper of TNA team entitled Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Neomycin-Imidazole Conjugates for RNA Cleavage is now published in ChemPlusChem and is part of a special collection devoted to the 10th anniversary of the Institute of Chemistry of Nice !!NMMC2022 Dr. Maria Duca will present the team's work at the XXVII National Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry in Bari from September 11 to 14!Bandeau ISMC TNA team is organizing the XXVII EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry in Nice from 4 to 8 of September, do not miss this great event about medicinal chemistry!Logo Twitter 
Dr. Maria Duca will present the team's works at the French American Chemistry Symposium (FACS XVIII) next June in Charleston (USA)!
The last paper of the groupe entitled Development of 2-deoxystreptamine–nucleobase conjugates for the inhibition of oncogenic miRNA production is now published in RSC Medicinal Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry) - Publications
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2026
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Panosetti, M., Vecchio, D., Maucort, C., Mongiardini, V., Di Giorgio, A., Grimaldi, B., Duca, M. Reversing the Hypoxic Adaptive Response in Breast Cancer Cells through Small-Molecule Inhibition of Oncogenic MicroRNA-210. J. Med. Chem. 2026 69, 2814.
2025-
Martin C, Panosetti M, Tesini E, Azoulay S, Bugaut A, Sinou V, Patino N, Di Giorgio A, Darfeuille F, Duca M. Synthetic RNA ligands as activators of type I toxin-antitoxin systems: a novel antimicrobial strategy targeting Helicobacter pylori. Chem. Sci. 2025 16, 13249.
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Tran, T.P.A., Patino, N., Di Giorgio, A., Duca, M. 2-Deoxystreptamine as a platform to design original inhibitors of oncogenic miRNA biogenesis. C.R. Chimie 2025 28, 911.
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Bourourou M, Melis N, Cougnon M, Laffet G, Duranton C, Rubera I, Maurin T, Heurteaux C, Hauet T, Duca M, Pisani DF, Blondeau N, Tauc M. Targeting seryl-tRNA synthetase to unlock ischemic resilience in stroke - Insights from a proof-of-concept study. J .Cereb. Blood Flow Metab. 2025 In press
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Pernak M, Fleurisson C, Delorme C, Moumné R, Benedetti E, Micouin L, Azoulay S, Foricher Y, Duca M. Development of Comprehensive Screening and Assessment Assays for Small-Molecule Ligands of MALAT1 lncRNA. ACS Chem. Biol. 2025 20, 1068.
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Guillorit H, Relier S, Zagiel B, Di Giorgio A, Planque C, Felipe B, Hérault H, Bansard L, Bouclier C, Chabi B, Casas F, Clara O, Bonafos B, Mialhe X, Cazevieille C, Hideg S, Choquet A, Bastide A, Pannequin J, Duca M, Macari F, David A. Streptomycin targets tumor-initiating cells by disrupting oxidative phosphorylation. Cell Chem. Biol. 2025 32, 570.
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Fleurisson, C., Graidia, N., Azzouz, J., Di Giorgio A., Gaysinski, M., Foricher Y., Duca, M., Benedetti, E., Micouin, L. Design and evaluation of azaspirocycles as RNA binders. Chem. Eur. J. 2025 31, e202403518.
2024-
Kovachka S, Panosetti M, Grimaldi B, Azoulay S, Di Giorgio A, Duca M. Small molecule approaches to targeting RNA. Nature Rev. Chem. 2024 8, 120.
2023-
Maucort, C., Bonnet, M., Ortuno, J.C., Tucker, G., Quissac, E., Verreault, M., Azoulay, S., Di Giorgio, C., Di Giorgio, A., Duca, M. Synthesis of bleomycin-inspired RNA ligands targeting the biogenesis of oncogenic miRNAs. J. Med. Chem. 2023, 66, 10639.
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Scheheoleva I., Fernandez-Remacha, D., Estrada-Tejedor, R., Duca, M., Michelet, V. De novo design of pre-miR-21 maturation inhibitors: synthesis and activity assessment. Chem. Eur. J. 2023 29, e202301807
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Auberson YP, Arimondo PB, Duca M, Essig S, Grether U, Rufer AC, Sbardella G, Schopfer U, Torrens A, van der Stelt M, Vauzeilles B, Vázquez O, Zhang AX. EFMC: Trends in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology. ChemBioChem 2023 24, e202200690
2022- Martin, C. Bonnet, M., Patino, N., Azoulay, S., Di Giorgio A., Duca, M. Design, synthesis and evaluation of neomycin-imidazole conjugates for RNA cleavage ChemPlusChem 2022 87, e202200250
- Tran, T.P.A., Poulet, S., Pernak, M., Rayar, A., Azoulay, S., Di Giorgio A., Duca, M. Development of 2-deoxystreptamine-nucleobase conjugates for the inhibition of oncogenic miRNAs production. RSC Med. Chem. 2022 13, 311.
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