Research

Keywords

  • Palaeontology: taxonomy, systematics and palaeoecology of Palaeozoic arthropods.
  • Taphonomy of well-preserved fossils: authigenic mineralization of soft-tissues, depositional environments and rare earth element geochemistry, taphonomic biases.
  • Development of advanced 2D and 3D imaging techniques: synchrotron X-ray fluorescence, absorption, diffraction and scattering scanning, semi-quantitative micro-tomography, ultraviolet-visible infrared reflectance & luminescence imaging.
  • Field work: fossil collection and stratigraphical study.

Projects

Ongoing
  • Swiss National Science Foundation project: A multi-proxy approach for untangling the diversity and paleoecology of the first marine turtles (Thalassochelydia) (Project partner, PI: Jérémy Anquetin, JURASSICA Museum, Porrentruy, Switzerland).
  • Belgian Science Policy Office, “BRAIN-be 2.0 Research Program” project: To colour or not to colour: COLOUR patterns and pigments in INvertebrates from the PALAEOzoic of Belgium(Co-coordinator, with B. Mottequin (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles, Belgium)).
  • The Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA): an exceptional window on the Early Triassic marine life.
Past
  • Belgian Science Policy Office, “BRAIN-be 2.0 Research Program” project: Deciphering early stages of VERTebrate evolution: insights from long IGnored Belgian Devonian fossil Organism (Co-coordinator, with B. Mottequin (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles, Belgium)).
  • Swiss National Science Foundation Spark project: Breathing new life into dead fossils: Can geochemical characterization of biomolecules be used to enhance paleontological anatomy descriptions and reveal the affinities of enigmatic fossil animals? (PI: Pierre Gueriau).
  • Swiss National Science Foundation project: Arthropod Evolution during the Ordovician Radiation: Insights from the Fezouata Biota (PI: Allison C. Daley).
  • France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies collaborative project: X-Ray Imaging of Cultural Heritage – Bringing to Light our History (Collaboration with U. Bergmann (SLAC, Stanford University) and L. Bertrand (IPANEMA)).
  • ANR TERRES: Perspectives globales sur le processus de Terrestrialisation.

Reviewing activity

For international journals
  • Multidisciplinary journals: Science Advances, PNAS, Scientific Reports, PLoS ONE, PeerJ, Royal Society Open Science, The Science of Nature.
  • Earth Sciences and Palaeontology journals: Geology, Earth-Science Reviews, Geobiology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scottish Journal of Geology, Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Alcheringa, Journal of Paleontology, Lethaia, Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Palaios, Paleontologia Electronica, Facies.
  • Zoology and Natural History journals: Zoological Letters, Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletins.
  • Physics and Chemistry journals: Analytica Chimica Acta, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry.
Others
  • Synchrotron proposals (SSRL) and regional funding proposals (Ile-de-France, DIM MAP & PAMIR).