biology

Olivier Gascuel

Olivier Gascuel is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olivier Gascuel rather than just read about it. In short: Olivier Gascuel (born 1956) is a French researcher in bioinformatics. He is a research director at the CNRS.

Key takeaways

Olivier Gascuel belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olivier Gascuel to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olivier Gascuel from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Olivier Gascuel (born 1956) is a French researcher in bioinformatics. He is a research director at the CNRS. His work focuses in particular on phylogeny. He was the director of the Centre for Bioinformatics, Biostatistics and Integrative Biology at the Pasteur Institute from 2015 till 2020. In 2021, he joined the Institute of Systematics, Evolution, Biodiversity (ISYEB) at the National Museum of Natural History, France.

Biography In 1975, Olivier Gascuel joined the École normale supérieure de Cachan, where he studied mathematics and then specialized in computer science. In parallel, he studied architecture. In 1981, he defended a doctoral thesis on expert systems for medical diagnosis, then joined the CNRS as a research fellow. He joined the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics (LIRMM) in 1987, and since then has focused his research on phylogeny. More recently, he has oriented part of his activities towards pathogens. In 2000, together with Marie-France Sagot, he initiated the annual JOBIM conference, the "Journées Ouvertes en Biologie, Informatique et Mathématiques" (Open Days in Biology, Informatics and Mathematics), now organized by the French Society of Bioinformatics (SFBI).

Awards In 2009, Olivier Gascuel was awarded the CNRS silver medal. In 2017, he is the winner of the Grand Prix Inria - Académie des sciences. Member of the French Academy of sciences in the integrative biology section, since 2019.

Books Sylvie Thiria, Olivier Gascuel and Yves Lechevallier, Statistique et méthodes neuronales, Éditions Dunod, 1997, 311 p. (ISBN 9782100035441). (en) Olivier Gascuel, Mathematics of Evolution and Phylogeny, Oxford University Press, 2005, 416 p. (ISBN 9780198566106).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olivier Gascuel

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olivier Gascuel claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olivier Gascuel before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olivier Gascuel ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olivier Gascuel

In research: Olivier Gascuel appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olivier Gascuel in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olivier Gascuel is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 births, Computational phylogenetics, French National Centre for Scientific Research awards, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olivier Gascuel outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olivier Gascuel in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olivier Gascuel means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olivier Gascuel out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olivier Gascuel in simple terms?

Olivier Gascuel (born 1956) is a French researcher in bioinformatics. He is a research director at the CNRS.

Why does Olivier Gascuel matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olivier Gascuel?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olivier Gascuel.