Prof. Benoit Schoefs

Benoît Schoefs, a plant physiologist, graduated from the Botanical Department, University of Liège (Belgium) in 1994. He worked for the University of Liège (1994-96), the South Bohemia University 1996-2000, the CNRS 2000-03. As a Professor (tenure) in Plant Physiology at the University of Dijon (France, 2003-11), he joined Le Mans University in September 2011 (France). He is the co-leader of the research group ‘Metabolism, Molecular Engineering of Microalgae and Applications’ at the laboratory Mer Molécules Santé. He is also a member of the Franco–Korean international laboratory. He has published more than 95 papers in international journals and monographies. He served as an editor for books and special issues. He is a member of the editorial board of Frontiers in Plant Science, Marine Drugs, Communicative and Integrative Biology and Botany Letters. In addition to the Prize ‘D. Clos’ from the Academy of Sciences of Toulouse (France, 1998) for his PhD work, in 1998 he won the annual scientific competition organized by the Belgian Academy of Science for his work on pigment biosynthesis. His research is focused on the physiological (photosynthesis, respiration), biochemical (carbon metabolism, pigments) and molecular responses (transcription factors) of photosynthetic organisms, including algae, to biotic or abiotic stresses and biotechnological applications