12 Facts About Sophien Kamoun

Sophien Kamoun was born on 8 December 1965 and is a Tunisian biologist.

Sophien Kamoun is a senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory and professor of biology at the University of East Anglia.

Sophien Kamoun studied at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris and then at the University of California, Davis where he obtained a PhD in 1991 for genetic analysis of pathogenicity of the bacteria, Xanthomonas campestris.

Sophien Kamoun is known for his contributions to our understanding of plant diseases and plant immunity.

Sophien Kamoun used genomics and molecular biology methods to obtain insights into the biology and evolution of eukaryotic plant pathogens.

Sophien Kamoun discovered virulence effector families from plant pathogens and showed how they can modulate plant immunity.

Sophien Kamoun demonstrated how antagonistic coevolution with host plants has impacted the architecture of pathogen genomes, accelerated the evolution of effector genes, and drove the emergence of immune receptor networks.

Sophien Kamoun was on the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology from 1998 to 2007, before joining The Sainsbury Laboratory in 2007.

Sophien Kamoun served as Head of The Sainsbury Laboratory from 2009 to 2014 and holds the rank of professor of biology at the University of East Anglia.

Sophien Kamoun received the 2003 Syngenta Award and the 2013 Noel Keen Award from the American Phytopathological Society, the Daiwa Adrian Prize in 2010, and the Kuwait Prize in 2016.

Sophien Kamoun was elected a member of the Academia Europaea in 2011, and the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2015.

Sophien Kamoun won successive European Research Council Advanced Investigator grants in 2011 and 2017.