Profile

My name is Vivian and I grew up in a village of Occitania close to Avignon in the South of France. Being very curious by character, I early on developed a strong interest in natural sciences, particular in chemistry and biology. In biology at school, I enjoyed the way we had to solve problems like small police investigations rather than learning knowledge by heart. In chemistry, I really liked the “cooking aspects” such as following the cookbook and mixing ingredients followed by observing changes in color, smell, texture, etc. Now as a biochemist still feel like a cuisine chef who adds their own personal touch to established protocols.

At the end of my secondary education, I opted naturally for university studies in Biology. I completed my masters studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Montpellier, after spending a few months in a lab in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, thanks to the ERASMUS program. After that I decided to pursue my training in basic research doing a PhD in a structural biology lab.

After four years of post-doc at EMBL-Hamburg, I became a research scientist in the same lab. My main focus is on gene transcription. I am particularly interested in how biological molecules such as proteins and DNA interact and cooperate during this fascinating biological process.