Eric Westhof#

Professor Eric Westhof, University of Strasbourg, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of the CNRS, Strasbourg, France

Born: 25th July, 1948 in Uccle (Belgium)
Nationality: French
Current position: Professor of Structural Biochemistry at the University of Strasbourg, Tel + 33 (0) 3 88 41 70 46, Secrétariat (D. Werling) + 33 (0) 3 88 41 70 56, FAX + 33 (0) 3 88 60 22 18

Eric Westhof is distinguished for major contributions in nucleic acid stereochemistry and in the fields of structural biophysics and bioinformatics of RNA molecules. He has developped computer programs for nucleic acid crystallographic refinement and three-dimensional modelling. He produced with his collaborators the first all-atom tertiary models of large catalytic RNAs. The architectures of those complex assemblies were later conforted by independent X-ray structure analysis. His present research focuses on the relationships between sequence, structure, and molecular evolution of RNA. He is executive editor of the journals « RNA » and « Nucleic Acids Research ».

Degrees and positions:

• 1971 : Licence en Sciences Physiques, Master in Physics (Liège University)
• 1974 : Docteur en Sciences, PhD (Liège University)
• 1971:EURATOM PhD fellowship (Regensburg University Germany)
• 1977:FULBRIGHT-HAYS Research Fellow and Research Associate (Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)
• 1981: EMBO fellowship (Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IBMC) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Strasbourg, France)
• 1984 :Chargé de recherches (CR1) of the CNRS at the IBMC
• 1988-:Professor of Structural Biochemistry at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg. Supervisor for the Biophysics and Structural Biology program at the Faculty of Biology of the University Louis Pasteur Supervisor of 14 PhD theses between 1992 and 2006
• 2005- : Director of the CNRS Unit ‘Architecture and Reactivity of RNA’, which comprise around 110 researchers, technicians, post-doctoral fellows and students
• 2006- : Director of the CNRS Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMC), which include three CNRS units and about 230 members
• 2007-2008 : Vice-President for Research and Doctoral Studies of the University Louis Pasteur
• 2009- : Vice-President for Research and Doctoral Studies of the University of Strasbourg

Member of

• Scientific Advisory Board of Ribotargets, Cambridge, UK (1997-2003)
• Scientific Advisory Board of Nascacell, Munich, Germany (1999-2003)
• Member and Chair of the EMBO Publications Committee (2002-2008)
• RNA Society (Director for 2000-2001 ; President-elect 2004 ; President 2005 ; Past President 2006)
• Biophysical Society
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Société française de Biophysique (Adjunct general secretary)
• Société française de Biochimie et de Biologie Moléculaire, member of FEBS, President 2004-2009
• Comité National de Biochimie (French Academy of Sciences), member of IUMB
• Scientific council of the University Louis Pasteur (2002-2006)
• Chairman of the ‘International Advisory Board’ of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemitry, Poznan, Polish *Academy of Sciences (2002-)
• Scientific council of the Biology Department of the Ecole normale supérieure (Paris) (2002-)
• Member of the ‘Scientific Advisory Board’ de l’Institute for Interdisciplinary Scientific Computing’ Heidelberg University (2003-)

Associate or executive editor of

• RNA Journal, Cambridge University Press
• Nucleic Acids Research, Oxford University Press
• Journal of Molecular Recognition, Wiley

Editorial board member of

• Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling
• Reports of Progress in Physics (2000-2004)
• Chemistry & Biology
• Biochimie
• EMBO Journal
• EMBO Reports

Selected grants

• Human Frontier Science Program (1997-2000), (2005-2008)
• European Union (1994-1997), (2002-2006), (2006-2008)

Awards

• Jacques MONOD Prize (Institut Pasteur, Nov. 1992)
• Structural Biochemistry Chair of the Institut Universitaire de France (July 1995)
• Member of the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization, 1998)
• Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Sciences (1999).
• Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher LEOPOLDINA (2000)
• Member of the Academia Europaea (2001)
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund Visiting Professor 2001-2002 (Rutgers University, NJ, USA)
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001)
• Fellow of the Institute of Physics, London, U.K. (2004)
• Charles-Léopold MAYER Prize of the French Academy of Sciences (2007)