Portraits of theUM

As dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec (Canada), Armand Soldera was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier. This is a well-deserved honor for this chemistry Professor , who is as dedicated to his field as he is to forging lasting ties with theUM and its constituent institutions, including Polytech Montpellier.

A professor at the Max Mousseron Institute of Biomolecules at theUM, chemist Jean-Yves Winum designs and synthesizes enzyme inhibitors of carbonic anhydrases, a promising target for treatments against cancer and various pathogens. His career has been recognized with the Michel Delalande Prize from the National Academy of Pharmacy.

Paul-Émile Paradan, a mathematics researcher at the Alexander Grothendieck Institute in Montpellier, part of the University of Montpellier, has received the “Alexandre-Joannidès” Prize awarded by the Academy of Sciences. The award recognizes years of independent research at the intersection of Atiyah–Singer index theory, representation theory, and symplectic geometry.  

Thanks to the MAK'IT program (Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions), Silvia Giordani is weaving collaborations with several UM laboratories around her nanomaterials research. The Dublin City University professor is taking advantage of this to extend the biomedical applications of her carbon nano-onions to fields other than medicine, particulary energy.

Catherine Alix-Panabières is one of the world’s leading experts on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and liquid biopsy. As the originator of the term, the professor of oncology at the University of Montpellier and director of the Laboratory for Rare Human Circulating Cells and Liquid Biopsy (LCCRH) has pioneered numerous research projects on cancer biomarkers present in the blood, with therapeutic applications on the horizon.

On August 1, 2024, astronomer Agnès Lèbre took over as director of the Montpellier Environmental Research Observatory (OREME). This role is a natural fit for the lead researcher at theUM , whose responsibilities have included an observation service since 1996.