Portraits of UM

With her young team specializing in inflammatory immune mechanisms at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Montpellier (IGMM), Nadine Laguette has enjoyed a string of 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 received the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation Cancer Research Prize from the Institut de France.  

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 more than 30% of drugs on the market. Many researchers in Montpellier trained under the professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal. In 2023, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier.

Ludovic Berthier is Director of Research in Statistical Physics at the Charles Coulomb Laboratory and Associate Researcher at the University of Cambridge. Last March, this author of more than 200 publications received the CNRS Silver Medal in recognition of 25 years of research on disordered physical systems.

A leading figure in paleontology, Colombian Carlos Jaramillo is a specialist in the evolution of Amazonian-Andean ecosystems over the last 120 million years. The researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has, in particular, explained the origin of the abundant biodiversity in 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 conditions such as heart failure and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The medal recognizes a career devoted to a holistic understanding of medicine and promising therapeutic avenues.

Alison Duncan is a researcher in evolutionary ecology at the Montpellier Institute of Evolutionary Sciences (ISEM). To better understand the dynamics of epidemics, she studies the interactions between parasites and between hosts and parasites. In 2022, she received the Mariano Gago Springboard Award for bilateral cooperation between France and Portugal.