• Group: Rare Disease Research Unit
• Location: Nice, France
• LinkedIn page URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-czech-b628603/

BIOGRAPHY

I joined Pfizer in July 2019 through the acquisition of Therachon and I am heading the Pfizer research site in Nice, France and leading the Recifercept project, the asset acquired from Therachon.

I obtained my PhD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, working on molecular mechanisms and animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. I joined the pharmaceutical industry at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer in France in the Central Nervous System Department, and I spend 18 years at Roche in Basel. First as a Discovery Laboratory Head in the Neuroscience Department and then as a Biomarker Leader and Section Head in Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, supporting research and clinical development with Biomarkers. Subsequently, I was Senior Director, Head of Discovery and Biomarker at Therachon.

I am co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and reviews and listed as an inventor on seven patents.

RESEARCH AREA(S)

Our team is focusing on Achondroplasia, a rare disease caused by a mutation if the FGFR3 receptor. This disease leads to reduced growth and disproportion resulting in severe complications in cranium and axial skeleton. Our treatment approach targets the cause of the disease by inhibiting the ligand depending overactivation of the mutated FGFR3 receptor.

PUBLICATIONS

1. In vitro and in vivo characterization of Recifercept, a soluble fibroblast growth factor receptor 3, as treatment for achondroplasia. Gonçalves D, Rignol G, Dellugat P, Hartmann G, Sarrazy Garcia S, Stavenhagen J, Santarelli L, Gouze E, Czech C. PLoS One. 2020 Dec 28;15(12):e0244368. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244368. eCollection 2020.
2. Targeting Huntingtin Expression in Patients with Huntington's Disease. Tabrizi SJ, Leavitt BR, Landwehrmeyer GB, Wild EJ, Saft C, Barker RA, Blair NF, Craufurd D, Priller J, Rickards H, Rosser A, Kordasiewicz HB, Czech C, Swayze EE, Norris DA, Baumann T, Gerlach I, Schobel SA, Paz E, Smith AV, Bennett CF, Lane RM. (2019) N Engl J Med. 2019 May 6. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1900907.
3. Evaluation of smartphone-based testing to generate exploratory outcome measures in a phase 1 Parkinson's disease clinical trial. Lipsmeier, F., Taylor, K. I., Kilchenmann, T., Wolf, D., Scotland, A., Schjodt-Eriksen, J., Cheng, W. Y., Fernandez-Garcia, I., Siebourg-Polster, J., Jin, L., Soto, J., Verselis, L., Boess, F., Koller, M., Grundman, M., Monsch, A. U., Postuma, R. B., Ghosh, A., Kremer, T., Czech, C., Gossens, C., & Lindemann, M. (2018). Mov Disord. doi:10.1002/mds.27376
4. Longitudinal characterization of biomarkers for spinal muscular atrophy. Bonati, U., Holiga, S., Hellbach, N., Risterucci, C., Bergauer, T., Tang, W., Hafner, P., Thoeni, A., Bieri, O., Gerlach, I., Marquet, A., Khwaja, O., Sambataro, F., Bertolino, A., Dukart, J., Fischmann, A., Fischer, D., & Czech, C. (2017). Annals of clinical and translational neurology, 4(5), 292-304. doi:10.1002/acn3.406
5. Glypican-2 levels in cerebrospinal fluid predict the status of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Lugert, S., Kremer, T., Jagasia, R., Herrmann, A., Aigner, S., Giachino, C., Mendez-David, I., Gardier, A. M., Carralot, J. P., Meistermann, H., Augustin, A., Saxe, M. D., Lamerz, J., Duran-Pacheco, G., Ducret, A., Taylor, V., David, D. J., & Czech, C. (2017). Scientific reports, 7, 46543. doi:10.1038/srep46543

EDUCATION

University of Heidelberg, Diploma thesis 1991,
University of Heidelberg, PhD program 1994