The Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers was awarded to Nicolas Levernier, post-doctoral fellow in biology, for his work on the physical properties of the cytoskeleton.

Understanding the structure of processes with memory

For his thesis, biophysicist Nicolas Levernier developed a theoretical framework to understand processes with memory whose dynamics are modified by each event. This new theoretical framework makes it easier to analyze various processes, from the construction of a polymer to the encounter between two enzymes and the rise of a financial product. It operates in environments whose nature is not explicitly known, making it a powerful tool in the context of a living cell.

For his post-doctorate, he turned to biology with a two-pronged project: analyzing the cytoskeleton’s physical properties and describing the symmetry-breaking processes necessary for embryonic development.

Nicolas Levernier in a few words

Thesis: “Time of First Passage of Non-Markovian Processes", under the supervision of Dr. Raphaël Voituriez, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris), Physics Graduate School in Île-de-France - Université Paris Saclay

POST-DOCTORATE: “Physical Modeling of the Cytoskeleton", under the supervision of Dr. Karsten Kruse, University of Geneva (Switzerland)

Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers

Created in 1990, the Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers is one of the first initiatives of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. Until 2021, this prize was awarded each year to 14 young doctors of science or doctors of medicine, to enable them to carry out their post-doctoral stay in the best foreign laboratories. 349 young researchers were distinguished. The prize endowment was €25,000.

All the award-winners