Patrick Pirrotte, Ph.D.

Patrick Pirrotte graduated with a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France (now University of Strasbourg) in November 2007. His semi-industrial thesis pioneered the use of high-resolution dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry in Life Sciences. The main body of his work was performed at the Institute of Immunology, CRP-Santé, Luxembourg a WHO reference lab for measles and rubella. In addition, he obtained an engineering M.Sc. in Biomedical Imaging in a separate study cycle at the same university.

In March 2007, Patrick created a consulting company providing scientific decisional support in the field of material science. The work focused on surface-based analytics and reporting and catered large industry located in and around the Greater Region of Luxembourg. Most notable clients included Fortune 500 companies. At Luxembourg's Public Research Centre Henri Tudor, Patrick helped shape the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg. In collaboration with TGen, one of his key objectives was to develop a visionary pipeline to support a novel generation of "integrated" biobanks that, alongside biorepository services, would provide molecular characterization of entire collections (as in "omics"). Patrick was also involved in the business analysis of a national eHealth network for Luxembourg, where he led the development of several prototypes that were then moved into commercial space for production.

Since late 2013, Patrick is the Technical Director of TGen’s Collaborative Center for Translational Mass Spectrometry. The Collaborative Center for Translational Mass Spectrometry has been conceived from ground up as a high-end clinical proteomics platform that can accommodate large volumes of patient samples. To support this goal, the center is equipped with high-end instrumentation such as a Thermo Linear Triple Quadrupole Orbitrap Velos for biomarker identification (discovery), and two Waters Triple Quads for quantitation (verification and validation) and an automated platform geared towards high-throughput sample preparation. Patrick’s current work focuses on biomarker discovery and validation pipelines, with specifics interests in high-throughput profiling of post-translational modifications.