Alain Thierry's Biography

Alain Thierry, Director of Research, Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier-INSERM

A.R. Thierry has a strong background in synthetic DNA complex formation and its use for in vivo gene therapy. His specific expertise is particularly applicable to research focusing on the study of the diagnostic capacity of circulating nucleic acids and the development of methods towards supporting personalized medicine. His team has developed an animal model to specifically quantify ctDNA from its different origins and it has demonstrated the crucial importance of detecting short ctDNA fragments to improve the high specificity and sensitivity of ctDNA analysis. This observation has enabled dominant intellectual property and the design of the IntPlex test. A.R. Thierry has coordinated the first clinical validation of the analysis of circulating DNA in oncology, in a prospective blinded multicentric study for the detection of KRAS and BRAF mutations from colorectal patient plasma samples. Aims of his research are now focusing on various aspects of the potential of ctDNA: (i), detecting the emergence of the mutations following targeted therapy; (ii), developing the Intplex test for the multimarker quantitative analysis of ctDNA; (iii), studying the follow up of CRC patients; (iv), the prognostic power of ctDNA and (v) the diagnostic power of ctDNA.