Academic background

Freelance Biologist and Author, 2016-2024

Writer, lecturer, botanist (plant sampling, vegetation survey, taxonomic revision)

Postdoctoral researcher, 2001-2015, 2020-2024

Teaching at BSc and MSc level

Pharmaceutical botany (60h), Phylogenetic reconstructions (20h), Collections management (4h)

Associate Editor for the journal Taxon, 2011-2017

Reviewer for the following journals:

Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Biological Review, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Folia Geobotanica, Journal of Biogeography, Molecular Ecology, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, Phytologia Balkanica, Plant Systematics and Evolution, Sida Contributions to Botany, Systematic Botany, Taxon, Willdenowia

Lab Manager, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, 1999-2000

Postdoctoral researcher, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, 2020-2024

Botanical legacies from the Enlightenment: unexplored collections and texts at the crossroads between humanities and sciences (Official Website)

Postdoctoral researcher, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2009-2015

Evolutionary history of the genus Campanula (Campanulaceae)

Postdoctoral researcher, Universität Zürich, Switzerland, 2005-2009

Dating the origins of plants endemic to the Corso-Sardinian microplate: A window on the biogeography of Araceae and Boraginaceae

Postdoctoral researcher, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, 2001-2005

Evolutionary significance of polyploidy and hybridization in Centaurium (Gentianaceae), and taxonomic consequences

PhD Dissertation, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, 1997-2001

Phylogenetic relationships within the subtribe Chironiinae (Gentianaceae), with a particular focus on the evolutionary trends and biogeographic patterns of the genus Centaurium Hill s.l.

MSc in Biology, Université des Sciences d'Orsay, Université de Paris-Saclay, France, 1994-1995

Effect of the environment on the production of condensed tanins in Lotus uliginous (Fabaceae)

Doctor of Pharmacy, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Montpellier 1, France, 1987-1993

Étude botanique des genres Gentiana et Gentianella en France

I started my studies in pharmacy a long time ago, in Montpellier, by a beautiful day of September 1986, to complete them in December 1993, still under a radiant sun! Seven years filled with many moving memories:

• The first year and its terrible selection (150 students admitted amongst 800... I finally ended up at rank 23);
• The second year where one proudly displays one’s hard-won white lab coat, an outward sign of a recent victory over the dreadful contest;
• The third and fourth years, relatively quiet, at the cruising pace of exams and student life;
• Finally, the fifth and sixth years, with a draconian split between the different specialties (dispensary pharmacy, industry, hospital...), many practical trainings and, last but not least, the defence of the thesis!

In the end, I was a pharmacist with a worn-out coat... I should rather say a devastated coat, after the many hours spent in the chemistry labs! Indeed, pharmacy is all about chemistry, all kinds of chemistry - analytical, organic, mineral, therapeutic, synthetic, phytochemical, to cite just a few. A multitude of acidic, aggressive, caustic compounds you should know how to tame and recognise. So many colours, smells and other sensations strongly anchored in your memory! One never forgets the strong odour of ammonia or the bitter almond one prefiguring cyanide, the green, rust, or turquoise tints of various copper precipitates, the scorching bite of caustic soda that insidiously gnaws all areas of skin not covered by the coat, and so on.

If many of my friends have chosen the dispensary (the city pharmacy if one prefers), others have also taken the paths of industry, hospital or commercial representation. Only a few have tried research, but never in botany… It must be admitted that the glorious age of pharmaceutical botanists is long over. Yet, I decided to embark on this tortuous path!

At the end of 1993, barely graduated with my Doctorate in Pharmacy, I succumbed to the charms of botany and decided to follow up my studies in biology. I was lucky enough to integrate the curriculum at the DEA level, currently corresponding to the MSc degree, which I acquired in September 1994 at the University of Paris XI (Orsay).

A somewhat chaotic period followed, where I had to deal with my military obligations and to search for an appropriate PhD position in botany. My quest ended in early 1997 with my official enrolment as a doctoral student at the Faculty of Science in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. A new life began in all respects.

Professionally speaking, Darwin and Wallace replaced Galen and Aristotle, molecular biology took precedence over phytochemistry and biochemistry, and human beings (especially the sick-ones!) ceased to be the navel of the universe... Humankind was to become just one of the millions of evolutionary branches making up the tree of life!

In 2001, I graduated in biology, and pursued my career at several universities in French-speaking Switzerland (Neuchâtel), German-speaking Switzerland (Zurich) and Germany (Berlin). During my curriculum, I had the chance to teach pharmaceutical botany, an exciting discipline that naturally bridges all my competences and allows me to keep a foot in pharmacy. The rest of my time was mainly devoted to research and writing of scientific publications.