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Guillaume Fertin

Full Professor
Computer Science Department
LS2N, Nantes Université, France
ComBi group

guillaume.fertin@univ-nantes.fr

+33 2 51 12 58 24

Short CV


Research

My research is about the algorithmic study of biologically motivated problems. This implies determining, for a given problem, the border between tractable and intractable instances, in order to understand what parameters of the problem make it hard. This, in turn, allows to determine the best strategies to circumvent the intrinsic complexity of the problem, and provide solutions that offer the best trade-off between execution time and quality of the answer.

The problems I have been interested in lately are the following:

  • peptide and protein inference from MS/MS experiments
  • genomic rearrangements
  • motif search in biological networks

Publication list

Teaching

My teaching load is 192 hours per year minimum, but in reality it is closer to 240 hours.
The topics I teach are mainly algorithmically oriented (computational complexity, algorithmics and data structures, text algorithms, algorithms for comparative genomics and motif search in networks, etc.).

I essentially teach to Bachelor students ("L3" in French, meaning 3rd year after "baccalauréat") and Master students ("M1" and "M2", meaning respectively 4th and 5th year after "baccalauréat").


Admin

  • Nationally
    • GDR BIMMM, or "Groupe de Recherche Bio-Informatique Moléculaire: Modélisation et Méthodologie"
      Since January 2024, I am head of the CNRS "Groupe de Recherche Bio-Informatique Moléculaire: Modélisation et Méthodologie" GdR BIMMM.
      GDR BIMMM is a national structure, funded by CNRS Sciences Informatiques, the Computer Science Institute at CNRS. It is dedicated to researchers in bioinformatics with strong computer science methodological aspects and with applications in molecular biology.
      Its main goals are to structure and animate the french bioinformatics research community (around 500 people), and to accompany the evolution of its scientific discipline.
    • Conseil Scientifique d'Institut du CNRS (CNRS Sciences Informatiques)
      From 2024 to 2028, I am elected board member of the Conseil Scientifique d'Institut (Institute Scientific Board) for CNRS Sciences Informatiques, the Computer Science Institute at CNRS.
      As mentioned on the CNRS website, Institute Scientific Boards (or CSI in French):
      • advise and assist the Institute Directors through prospective advice and recommendations on the relevance and opportunity of the Institute's projects and activities;
      • provide an opinion on areas of disagreement between the sections' recommendations and the institutes' positions, arising during a meeting between the Institute Director, CSI President, and the Presidents of the sections involved;
      • provide an opinion on the appointment of members for admission boards concerning researchers.
    • Conseil National des Universités, or CNU27
      From 2024 to 2027, I am board member of the Conseil National des Universités for Computer Science (also known by French colleagues as "CNU27").
      This board is dedicated to our colleagues working as teachers and researches inf french universities.
      The main activities of CNU27 are listed below (in french, copied from CNU27's website):
      • qualification aux fonctions de maître.sse de conférences (MCF) et de professeur.e des universités (PR),
      • attribution du contingent national des avancements de grade (promotions),
      • attribution du contingent national des congés pour recherches ou conversions thématiques (CRCT),
      • avis sur les demandes de prime individuelle (RIPEC),
      • avis sur les demandes de promotion interne (repyramidage), suivi de carrière des enseignant.e.s-chercheur.se.s.

  • Locally