He studied Chemistry at the University of Paris 7 Jussieu, France. Afterwards he obtained his MSc in Chemistry at the University of East Anglia, UK, and PhD in Chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. His first postdoctoral appointment was at University of Florida with Prof. George Christou, followed by a postdoctoral position working jointly between the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco under the supervision of Prof. Jeffrey Long and the Nobel Laureate Prof. Stanley Prusiner.