President, French Academy of Sciences

Member of the IAC Board

Jules Hoffman is President of the French Academy of Sciences.  He was born in Luxembourg, where he received his primary and secondary education until he moved to Strasbourg University to study Zoology, General Biology and Chemistry. He received his Ph.D. at this University, working on the origins and roles of blood cells in the grasshopper Locusta migratoria under the supervision of Prs. P. Joly and A. Porte. After a postdoctoral year at Marburg University where he worked with Prs. P. Karlson and J. Koolman, J. Hoffmann returned to Strasbourg to take up biochemical studies on insect hormones, particularly on the steroid hormone ecdysone. In 1978, upon retirement of Pr. Joly J.Hoffmann became director of the laboratory and the interests of the group gradually moved to insect immunity. In 1994, J. Hoffmann was appointed director of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of the French National Research Agency CNRS. This institute, to which J. Hoffmann and his group moved from their previous location, the Institute of Zoology and General Biology, is located on the central campus of the University of Strasbourg (Universite Louis Pasteur). Since that period, the studies of J. Hoffmann and his numerous co-workers, focused primarily on the molecular and cellular aspects of the innate immune response of Drosophila, with a recent extension to the malaria vector insect Anopheles. J. Hoffmann has served on numerous French and International Committees, and is a Member of several Academies. He was elected in 2007 President of the French Academy of Sciences, and now works part-time in Paris. He is also a member of the Board of Administration of the French Research Agency CNRS.