Daniel Choquet (born 23 April 1962) is a French

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

Personal life and career

Daniel Choquet is the son of the

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (; 29 December 1923 – 11 February 2025) was a French mathematician and physicist. She made seminal contributions to the study of general relativity, by showing that the Einstein field equations can be put into the form of ...

and the

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Gustave Choquet Gustave Choquet (; 1 March 1915 – 14 November 2006) was a French mathematician. Choquet was born in Solesmes, Nord. His contributions include work in functional analysis, potential theory, topology and measure theory. He is known for creat ...

. He is the grandson of the

Georges Bruhat. He obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1979, followed by a degree in

bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number ...

from

École centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in 1984. He obtained his P.hD. in 1988 from

Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University ( , UPMC), also known as Paris VI, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, ...

and studied

pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

. That year, he started working for the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

(CNRS). From 1994 to 1996, he was a post-doctoral fellow at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. The following year, in 1997, he was promoted to research director at the CNRS. He is the director of the Bordeaux Imaging Center and the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience. He was elected as a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

on 30 November 2010.

Research

Choquet is a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

, focusing on nanoscopic imaging and the organization of receptors in

neurons A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

. His early research included work on the properties of

ion channels Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of ...

B lymphocytes B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are a type of the lymphocyte subtype. They function in the humoral immunity component of the adaptive immune system. B cells produce antibody molecules which may be either secreted or inserted into the plasm ...

. This research work earned him the CNRS Bronze medal in 1990. During his post-doc at Duke, he discovered that cells can respond and adapt to the mechanical properties of their environment. Since 1996, he has researched the fundamental properties of the transmission of

nerve impulses An action potential (also known as a nerve impulse or "spike" when in a neuron) is a series of quick changes in voltage across a cell membrane. An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell rapidly rises and falls. ...

in the brain and developed new

nanoscale Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

imaging techniques. He discovered that receptors move in living neurons and that these movements in and out

synapses In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that allows a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or a target effector cell. Synapses can be classified as either chemical or electrical, depending o ...

participate to synaptic plasticity, a phenomenon thought to underlie learning and memory. Choquet's current work involves attempting to understand the role of receptor movements in

neurodegenerative diseases A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Neuronal damage may also ultimately result in their death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, mul ...

. His recent research work has earned him the 2004 CEA Prize and the 2009

CNRS Silver Medal The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). It is awarded to a researcher for "the originality, quality and importance of their work, re ...

Awards

* 1990: CNRS Bronze medal * 1994: Petit-Dormoy prize of the

Académie des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

* 1994: Prize of the "société de secours des amis de la science" * 1997: Research prize form the

Fondation pour la recherche médicale The Fondation pour la recherche médicale or FRM, is a French foundation created in 1947 among others by professors Jean Bernard and Jean Hamburger, on a private management basis but recognized as being of public utility in 1965. Its mission i ...

* 2004: Grand prix de l'Académie des Sciences, prize of the CEA * 2006: Labeled FRM team by the "Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale" * 2007: Laureate of the "Bauer Lectureship award", Brandeis University * 2008: Laureate of an "ERC advanced research grant" from the European Commission * 2009: Nominated author of the year 2008 by the French Society for Neurosciences * 2009:

* 2010: Elected member of the French Academy of Sciences, integrative biology section * 2011: Laureate of the "Victoires de la médecine 2011" * 2012: Nominated "Chevalier de l'ordre des Palmes académiques" * 2013 : laureate of an "ERC advanced research grant" from the European Commission * 2014: Elected member of EMBO * 2015 : elected member of the Academia Europaea * 2016 : Nominated "chevalier de l'ordre de la légion d'honneur" * 2018 : laureate of an "ERC advanced research grant" from the European Commission * 2021 : Nominated "officier de l'ordre des Palmes académiques"

References

External links

Biosketch en anglais

presentation on the web site of the Bordeaux Neuroscience Federation

web site of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience

web site of the Bordeaux Imaging Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choquet, Daniel 1962 births French neuroscientists Living people Members of the French Academy of Sciences Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research École Centrale Paris alumni Bruhat family Choquet family