Brice Kauffmann
Brice Kauffmann, a former postdoc at EMBL Hamburg, was recently the winner of a silkscreen painting as the 1,000th person to register with the Alumni Association, in which there are now 1,050 members. Now a Senior Scientist at the CNRS Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), Pessac, France, Brice was delighted: “That’s the first time I’ve won something!”
Brice, what made you return home to France?
I went back because the CNRS is the largest fundamental research organisation in Europe. IECB in Bordeaux hosts outstanding European chemists and biologists working in a multidisciplinary environment and is open to partnerships with academic and industrial research centres. They were looking for a crystallographer; I got the job through competition, which is how all civil servants (including tenured scientists at CNRS) are recruited in France.
What’s challenging about this job?
I’m responsible for the X-ray diffraction and small angle scattering facility. What’s really exciting is that I have two state-of-the-art machines that allow me to study the 3D structures of molecules of biological interest. In terms of research, I work mainly on topics from the local groups, as the facility is brand new and needs to be optimised. I hope to develop my own research with external collaborations soon.
How did EMBL prepare you for this position?
As a postdoc at EMBL Hamburg (2004-06), I worked on methodological protein crystallography with synchrotron radiation. As a member of Manfred Weiss team, I followed and participated in the building of the new beamline (X12). This experience has been invaluable in setting up the facility here. I was also involved in providing support to the users of the beamline, which was good training as I now help people everyday in collecting data on my machines.
Are you still in touch with EMBL colleagues?
I’m currently working with another EMBL alumnus, Sebastien Fribourg, formerly of Elena Conti’s group, who is starting a structural biology group in our institute. I don’t have an official collaboration yet but intend to establish one. I’d like to keep an eye on what’s happening at EMBL, which is also why I joined the Alumni Association.