Paul François

Timeline

1. 1998–2005

   Physics training in Paris

   He earns a BEng with a physics major at École Polytechnique (1998–2001) and an MSc in theoretical physics at the École Normale Supérieure and École Polytechnique (2001–2002). He then works on a PhD in theoretical physics in the Hakim lab at the École Normale Supérieure and Université Paris VII from 2002 to 2005.

2. 2004

   Evolving gene networks in silico

   With Vincent Hakim, he publishes a PNAS paper in 2004 that describes an evolutionary procedure in silico for creating small gene networks that perform basic tasks. The procedure produces networks that work as bistable switches or oscillators.

3. 2005–2010

   Postdoc in the Siggia lab

   He is a postdoctoral researcher in the Siggia lab at The Rockefeller University from 2005 to 2010. In 2007, he receives a Lavoisier Postdoctoral Fellowship from France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prix Le Monde de la recherche universitaire.

4. 2010–2023

   Physics professor at McGill

   He joins McGill University's physics department as an assistant professor in 2010 and holds an associate professorship from 2016 to 2023. His research develops approaches from statistical and computational physics to understand the dynamics of biological systems and their evolution, in close collaboration with experimentalists.

5. 2012–2013

   Models of embryos and T cells

   In 2012, he and Eric Siggia publish "Phenotypic Models of Evolution and Development: Geometry as Destiny", which uses computational evolution to obtain phenotype models with few variables and parameters, including one for somitogenesis. In 2013, he and four coauthors show in PNAS that a proofreading cascade with a single SHP-1 negative feedback accounts quantitatively for early T-cell activation, including the effects of antagonists.

6. 2014–2019

   Simons Investigator to Rutherford Medal

   The Simons Foundation names him a Simons Investigator in Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems in 2014, and McGill gives him its Principal's Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researchers in 2015. He receives the CAP Herzberg Medal in 2017 and the Rutherford Medal in Physics of the Royal Society of Canada in 2019, in part for research on the biophysical principles of vertebrae formation.

7. 2022

   Antigen strength from cytokine data

   In 2022, he leads the data analysis team behind "Universal antigen encoding of T cell activation from high-dimensional cytokine dynamics" in Science, a collaboration with Grégoire Altan-Bonnet's group at the US National Cancer Institute. The McGill team uses machine learning and mathematical models to read antigen strength from cytokine release patterns.

8. As of October 2026

   Professor at Université de Montréal

   He is a full professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at Université de Montréal, an adjunct professor of physics at McGill and an associate academic member of Mila. In November 2025, he coauthors with François X. P. Bourassa, Sooraj Achar and Grégoire Altan-Bonnet the review "Learning the principles of T cell antigen discernment", which describes how statistical and machine learning approaches refine models of antigen recognition.