Alain Brunelle
Alain Brunelle graduated from the École Normale Supérieure in Saint-Cloud, France, with a degree in physics and a doctorate from the Université Paris-Sud. Recruited to the CNRS by the Institut de Chimie in 1990 and assigned as a research fellow to the Institut de Physique Nucléaire d'Orsay, his work until 2002 focused on the study of the interactions of energetic particles (ions, aggregates, molecules, photons) with matter. He is particularly interested in the non-linear increase in secondary ionic emission generated by aggregate beams, and in instrumental developments in mass spectrometry. In 2002, his research led him to initiate a biological imaging mass spectrometry project at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles in Gif-sur-Yvette, where he is now head of the mass spectrometry team. Director of research since 2006, his research project has led him to study subjects as varied as the in situ analysis of lipid disorders linked to human diseases, or the chemical composition of samples of old paintings. To date, he has co-authored over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and is one of the world leaders in mass spectrometry imaging.
