Nabil Seidah

Nabil G. Seidah, CM OQ FRSC (born 1949) is a Canadian Québécois scientist. Born in Egypt, he was educated at Cairo University, and subsequently at Georgetown University where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1973. He emigrated to Canada and has been working at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM) since 1974. He is the director of the laboratory of Biochemical Neuroendocrinology. He discovered and cloned seven (PC1, PC2, PC4, PC5, PC7, SKI-1 and PCSK9) of the nine known enzymes belonging to the convertase family. During this period, he also greatly contributed to demonstrating that the proteolysis by the proprotein convertases is a wide mechanism that also concerns “non-neuropeptide” proteins such as growth factors, α-integrins, receptors, enzymes, membrane-bound transcription factors, and bacterial and viral proteins. In 2003, he discovered PCSK9 and showed that point mutations in the PCSK9 gene cause dominant familial hypercholesterolemia, likely because of a gain of function related to the ability of PCSK9 to enhance the degradation of cell surface receptors, such as the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR). He has since worked on the elucidation of the functions and mechanisms of action of PCSK9 and PCSK7 both in cells and in vivo, and is developing specific PCSK9 and PCSK7 inhibitors/silencers.