Seven-year-old Amandine Cornille crouches in the grass of her backyard in Villeneuve d’Ascq, France, mesmerized by a bee hovering over lavender. The bright yellow of its body contrasts with the soft purple petals, and the hum of its wings fills the warm air. The scent of flowers mixes with the earth, and everything around her seems connected and alive with purpose.
The moment is fleeting, but its significance grows as Cornille’s curiosity takes root. Over time, what began as a simple fascination for nature evolved into a lifelong dedication to understanding the intricate relationships that sustain life.
"I was always looking at the small things, trying to understand why they had certain colors or behaviors," says Cornille. "Even as a child, I had this innate curiosity about the living creatures that shared my environment."
That early spark of wonder would shape Cornille’s remarkable career as an evolutionary biologist devoted to unraveling the complex histories and adaptations of some of the world's most important fruit trees. From the iconic apple to the humble fig, Cornille has made it her life's work to safeguard the genetic diversity of these botanical marvels, using cutting-edge genomics to predict how they will respond to the challenges of a changing climate.
It's a mission that has taken her around the globe, from the orchards of France to the tropical forests of South Africa. Her early interest in biology eventually shifted to ecology and population genetics.
“To understand how fruit trees will respond to climate change, we first need to know where they come from and what their ancestors were like. By studying their origins and genetic diversity, we can uncover traits that might help these trees adapt to future challenges,” says Cornille.
“Understanding the evolutionary history of these trees—especially how domestication and natural selection have shaped them—can help us find useful traits for future breeding programs. Just as Darwin used domesticated pigeons to study natural selection, we can use apple trees to do something similar, but with the added advantage of modern genomic tools.”
After graduating with a Master's at École Normale Supérieure in France and a PhD at Université Paris Sud in 2012, Cornille completed postdocs at Uppsala University in 2015 and ETH Zurich in 2017. Later that year, she became a National Centre for Scientific Researcher (CNRS) at Université Paris-Saclay. However, her most significant achievement was realized outside of the classroom.
“We’ve planted 15 apple orchards across Europe, including Romania, Spain, Belgium, and France,” says Cornille. “The first was planted at the University of Paris, and we grew many plants, genotyped them, and then replicated this across Europe. It's a specific design where we put the wild relative with cultivated trees and recorded their response to climate change over the years.”
Cornille’s long-term goal is to understand the origins of biodiversity and how it will cope with climate change. On the practical side, it's about ensuring food security and conservation.
“Our apple orchards allow us to conserve genetic diversity from different regions,” adds Cornille. “We also work with colleagues who cross wild species with cultivated ones, bringing beneficial genes into crops to create more resilient apples to climate change and pests. Ultimately, it’s about improving food security.”
In August 2024, Cornille took on the position of Associate Professor of Biology at NYU Abu Dhabi, where she is ready to further her research into fig trees.
“It’s incredible to be here in the Middle East where fig trees thrive, and the cultural history surrounding them is so rich,” says Cornille. “My whole team is here, and we’re ready to make our mark on the UAE and the world.”
