Francis-André Wollman
Vice-president, Académie des sciences, CNRS
Francis-André Wollman is Emeritus Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), a member of the French Academy of Sciences, a member of EMBO. He received the 2000 Silver Medal from the CNRS. In the mid 1970ies, he joined the Photosynthesis laboratory of Pierre Joliot at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (IBPC) in Paris and became its Director in the late 90ies before being appointed Director of IBPC in 2007. His research focused on the biogenesis, regulation and evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Throughout his career, he used the genetics of the microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, for biophysical, biochemical and structural studies. These studies provided a dynamic view of chloroplast gene expression, enabling photosynthesis to be highly responsive to an ever-changing environment through its bioenergetic integration and metabolic flexibility.