Trained as a physicist, Stéphane obtained a PhD in Astrophysics in 1993 at the Nice Observatory. He converted to bioinformatics during a postdoctoral Fellowship in CRS4 (Sardinia). He then joined one of the leading bioinformatics team in France, that of Jean-Michel Claverie in Marseille, where he contributed to numerous genome sequencing projects, mainly of bacteria but also of the famous Mimivirus. He obtained there a position of Research Engineer in CNRS. Grown near the sea, Stéphane joined the team of Colomban de Vargas in 2010, where he found the opportunity to work on the fabulous diversity of planktonic organisms and had the great chance to be part of the Tara Oceans Expedition.
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