Paul François

Paul François is a Full Professor at the University of Montreal, affiliated with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and the MILA - Quebec Institute of Artificial Intelligence. His research integrates theoretical physics, computational methods, and machine learning to study biological systems, particularly immune cell signaling and embryonic development. He holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the École Normale Supérieure (Paris) and conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University.

Research Interests:

• Immunology: Mathematical modeling of T-cell activation and CAR-T cell therapy specificity
• Embryology: Segmentation clock dynamics and temperature compensation in vertebrate development
• Systems Biology: Epigenetic landscapes and cell fate decisions via generalized Hopfield networks

Awards & Affiliations:

• Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics (2019)
• Simons Investigator in Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems (2014)
• Affiliated with the Centre for Mathematical Research (CRM) and the Centre for Biomedical Innovation at UdeM

Grants & Labs:

• Collaborations with Grégoire Altan-Bonnet (NCI) on immunodynamics
• Laboratory focuses on robotics-driven cytokine mapping and machine learning applications

Labs/Teams:

Hosts a multidisciplinary lab at UdeM’s Faculty of Medicine, combining biophysics, bioinformatics, and AI to address biological complexity.