Yacine Lebbaoui, Ruminant Center of Excellence: “At the Centers of Excellence, I feel like we are technical and into the action”

Meet our researcher: Yacine Lebbaoui, R&D Assistant, Ruminant Center of Excellence

• Based in INRAe Theix, France
• Diplomas: 2-year degree in Biotechnology / Bachelor of Science in Microbiology
• Areas of expertise: microbiology, molecular biology, OMICS, cell culture

 

Yacine, can you tell us a bit about yourself, your passions, why did you choose to be a researcher?

I am 30 years old, married with one child. I enjoy watching TV. I have been practicing a martial art called “Viet Vo Dao” for five years. I also like manual work, which I do a lot at home.

At first, I was not meant to work in research! I wanted to become a police officer. But my family motivated me into pursuing my studies, so I enrolled on a BTS (Brevet de Technicien Superieur) in biotechnology near my hometown. It was a bit difficult at first, but then working in a lab really drew in me. This is where I had the most fun! Looking back, in comparison to being a police officer, I’d much rather work in a lab, actually.

After my diploma, I went to Marseille to pursue a Bachelor of Science in microbiology. After that, I moved to Clermont-Ferrand looking for a job. I started to work for two months at INRAe in Theix, where I met Frédérique Chaucheyras-Durand at the Ruminant Center of Excellence, and, by the end of my contract with INRAe, I was offered a permanent contract with Lallemand.

 

What is exciting about your job?

What I like the most is teamwork: we always share with each other, we give each other advice, and we help each other. We really move forward as a team.

I work on microbiology, molecular biology, and cell culture. Since we are a team of four here in the INRAe facilities, it’s easy to be fully involved in all the projects.

What is also interesting is that we almost start from scratch to gain results, which is motivating because we want to give the best of ourselves to get the answers we’re looking for!

 

What is it like to work for Lallemand Centers of Excellence?

To me, the Centers of Excellence are real support for our colleagues in the tech and commercial teams because we can have more precise tests on products, which allows us to push forward Lallemand’s R&D expertise. I feel like we are technical and “into the action.”