Eric Karsenti

I obtained my PhD from Paris University in 1979 (Laboratory of S. Avrameas, Pasteur Institute). I then moved to the University of California, San Francisco (1981), where I worked on the cell cycle and mitosis ( M. Kirschner Lab). I joined EMBL as a group leader in 1985. Over the following 20 years, I have been one the leading scientists that contributed to the understanding of the cell cycle and mitotic spindle.

I also became head of the Cell Biology and Biophysics unit at EMBL. In this Unit, I have developed a new scientific culture, mixing group leaders trained in sophisticated imaging methods with biologists and physicists creating a new discipline that could be called Systemic Cell Biology.

Finally in 2008-2009, I organized the TARA OCEANS expedition that sailed around the world, finishing in March 2012. This has also been a very interesting scientific project in which I brought together Physical Oceanographers with Marine Biologists, Imaging specialists, Molecular Biologists, Bio-Informaticians and Modelers. The aim of this expedition is to better understand plankton organisms evolution and ecosystem.