The Schueller Prize was created in 1958 by Mrs Liliane BETTENCOURT, daughter of Eugène SCHUELLER (Year 1904 at Chimie ParisTech-PSL) and founder of L’Oréal, to reward research carried out by engineering graduates of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris.

This prestigious annual award is presented by L’Oréal Group General Management and the BETTENCOURT MEYERS family, and is intended to reward a young engineer from Chimie ParisTech-PSL who, within five years of graduating, has completed a PhD work likely to open the way to innovative industrial applications in the fields of molecular chemistry and life sciences.

This year – after a hiatus due to the COVID pandemic – the Schueller Prize was awarded to two engineers: Léonid LAVNEVICH, the 2021 winner, and Alexandre DESAINTJEAN, the 2022 winner. The awards ceremony took place on November 29 in the presence of Christian LERMINIAUX, Director of Chimie ParisTech-PSL, Jean-Louis BRAYER, Vice-President of the Chimie ParisTech-PSL Alumni and Vincent TOURAILLE, President of the Chimie ParisTech-PSL Alumni. The L’Oréal Group was represented by the BETTENCOURT-MEYERS family, Barbara LAVERNOS, Group Executive Vice-President in charge of Research, Innovation and Technology, and Jean-Paul AGON, Chairman of the Group’s Board of Directors.

Laureate 2021. Léonid LAVNEVICH, Engineer (Year 2017) and Doctor of Molecular Chemistry from Sorbonne University. During his doctoral thesis, Léonid focused his research on the development of a new therapeutic approach based on cyclodextrins to combat the influenza virus. However, it was mainly the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed to achieve the proof of concept. Exploiting the similarity between the influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 in the way they recognize cells, the molecules were rapidly tested towards SARS-CoV-2, in collaboration with the virology department of the “Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière“. Léonid currently works at Voisin Consulting, in the field of clinical drug development. His role is to guide innovative companies in designing clinical trial protocols aligned with the product’s overall development and commercialization strategy.

For Léonid LAVNEVICH: « Eugène SCHUELLER symbolizes the excellence of our school, and for me he embodies the synergy between scientific research and the entrepreneurial approach that is essential to transforming an invention into an innovation. Receiving a prize bearing his name and seeing my scientific contribution rewarded in this way is a great honor for me. »

Laureate 2022. Alexandre DESAINTJEAN, Engineer (Year 2018) and Doctor of Organic Chemistry from the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, Germany. His PhD work is in line with the concept of green chemistry and focused in particular on the preparation of organometallic species in less expensive, more environmentally-friendly solvents, as well as on the development of green iron and manganese catalysis methods to replace toxic, expensive and less abundant metals often used in this field. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Roche (Penzberg, Germany), a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostic solutions. There, he is developing new chemical species capable of increasing the sensitivity of immunological tests, with the aim of diagnosing many diseases at an earlier stage, facilitating effective care.

For Alexandre DESAINTJEAN: « Receiving this award was a wonderful surprise for me. I’m very honored, proud and happy. I feel rewarded for my efforts, and I’m also delighted to see the interest my work is arousing within the scientific and industrial community. »

Congratulations once again to our two Alumni on their brilliant journey!