Portraits of the UM

With her young team specializing in inflammatory immune mechanisms at the Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier (IGMM), Nadine Laguette is multiplying her successes. In ten years, she has made several key discoveries and won no fewer than three prestigious European ERC grants. At the end of 2022, she was awarded the Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca de l'Institut de France cancerology prize.  

A world-renowned researcher in the field of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), Michel Bouvier has contributed to numerous fundamental and therapeutic discoveries on these proteins, which are the target of over 30% of drugs on the market. Many Montpellier researchers have trained with this professor from the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal. In 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Montpellier.

Ludovic Berthier is Director of Research in Statistical Physics at the Charles Coulomb Laboratory and Research Associate at Cambridge University. Last March, this author of over 200 publications was awarded the CNRS Silver Medal for 25 years of research into disordered physical systems.

A great name in paleontology, Colombian Carlos Jaramillo is a specialist in the evolution of Amazonian-Andean ecosystems over the last 120 million years. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute researcher explained the origin of the abundant biodiversity of this intertropical region.

Director of the Laboratory of Physiology and Experimental Medicine (University of Montpellier / CNRS / Inserm), Alain Lacampagne has just been awarded the CNRS silver medal for his work on the role of calcium homeostasis in pathologies such as heart failure and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The medal rewards a career focused on a holistic understanding of medicine and promising therapeutic avenues.

Alison Duncan is a researcher in evolutionary ecology at the Institut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier (ISEM). To better understand the dynamics of epidemics, she works on interactions between parasites and between hosts and parasites. In 2022, she was awarded the Mariano Gago springboard prize for bilateral cooperation between France and Portugal.