Building bridges to France
In 2008, TMU invited Burnouf to Taiwan as a visiting scholar. Given that Burnouf loves research, and that the job offered him the opportunity to engage in clinical work on plasma fractionation, dive into advanced research, and forge ties to the medical community, he happily accepted the invitation.
In the years since, he has extended his research role in Taiwan to include international cooperation. He used his “in between” status to forge a partnership between the TMU Neuroscience Research Center and the Université de Lille, giving rise to the NeuroTMULille international laboratory for bilateral research in the neurosciences. The two universities also inked an agreement enabling masters-degree and PhD students to participate in exchanges between Taiwan and France, broadening their pool of potential collaborators.
In 2019, Burnouf won an award from the International Plasma Fractionation Association for his innovations and contributions to plasma fractionation technology and related research. He was the first researcher in Taiwan to receive the award. In addition to the advances he has made in using biological products such as plasma and platelets in regenerative medicine, such as the treatment of traumatic brain injuries and eye diseases, Burnouf has received grants from the National Health Research Institutes to study the use of platelet pellets as carriers of anti-cancer drugs in hopes of reducing the side effects of such drugs. He is also leading research into the use of PPLs in clinical applications of stem cells. Burnouf’s work truly makes full use of blood products.
In addition to being a researcher and the first foreign director of a TMU graduate school, Burnouf is also an award-winning teacher. Though his “French-Taiwanese teaching style” inspires both respect and fear among his students, they’ve taken to his approach.
Burnouf’s “Taiwanese” half is apparent when his students turn in poorly written reports in English: he tells them in Mandarin that the quality of the writing makes him livid, but then patiently guides them through revisions. In one case, he had a student rewrite a report seven times.
He also enjoys interacting with his students outside the classroom, where he shows off his French-accented Mandarin. These conversations let him exercise his melancholic “French” sense of humor by feigning despondency when his students don’t understand him.
Burnouf goes by “Bai Tairui” in Mandarin, the tairui chosen for him by a Taiwanese friend to approximate his given name, Thierry. He likes that his Chinese name includes the tai of Taiwan, and the rui that means “lucky” or “auspicious.” He adds that Taiwan has provided him with great opportunities, not just to develop his professional career by extending his expertise beyond blood plasma to biotechnology engineering, neuroscience and cancer treatment, but also to experience a new culture.
Burnouf recalls going out for a bicycle ride on Taipei’s Keelung Road soon after arriving in Taiwan. Unfamiliar with the hectic pace of Taiwan’s traffic, he found himself nearly overwhelmed by the hordes of vehicles. Nowadays, he is fully at home and cycles regularly for exercise, riding along the riverside bikeway from Jingmei all the way to Danshui. For Thierry Burnouf, Taiwan has proved an incredible place to live!
Example of an experimental design to study the capacity of purified platelet extracellular vesicles (EV) to stimulate brain neurogenesis and rejuvenation.
Burnouf is on friendly terms with his students, and very conscientious about mentoring them.
For Thierry Burnouf, Taiwan has proved an incredible place to live. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)