Speakers // Anne-Françoise Adam-Blondon

Recruited by INRA in 1994 as a research scientist, and promoted to become a Research Director in 2007, A-F Adam-Blondon focused first on the structure of the grapevine genome: she contributed to a reference gene map, to the chromosome assembly and annotation of the reference genome, worked on sequence diversity at the genomic scale in this plant and participated in identifying two major resistance genes, one against downy mildew and the other against powdery mildew derived from a related wild species Muscadina rotundifolia.  All this was made possible thanks to collaborations with leading teams in the field, whether they were French, European or international. Between 2013 and 2016, A-F Adam-Blondon coordinated the European Innovine project: Combining innovation in vineyard management and genetic diversity for a sustainable European viticulture. In 2012, A-F Adam-Blondon joined the Genomics-Informatics Research Unit (URGI) in Versailles where she has gradually refocused her scientific activities on the issue of the interoperability of information systems (modelling of common data, generic web services, etc.) and data (development of standards for metadata and data, ontologies, monitoring the identification of accessions, etc.). This change has notably been driven by a desire to better exploit the knowledge generated by INRA and integrate it in an international data “ecosystem”. She has been deputy to the French Head of Node of the ELIXIR European bioinformatics infrastructure for Life Science since 2017.

Since 2013, she has been also appointed deputy to the Head of INRA’s Plant Biology and Breeding Division. In this capacity, A-F Adam-Blondon has been most particularly responsible for the areas of genetic resources, as well as assuring the scientific and administrative supervision of several units within the Division.