Laurence Balas obtained her PhD in 1992 at the University of Bordeaux under the supervision of Pr. Joseph Vercauteren. After a postdoctoral fellowship on asymmetric radical chemistry in Pr. Dennis P. Curran’s Laboratory at the University of Pittsburg in 1993, she obtained a permanent position at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Nancy. She joined the team “Synthesis of Bioactive Lipids” at the Institute of Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM) in Montpellier in 1997. She is currently involved in the total synthesis of non-cyclic PUFA metabolites (leukotrienes, endocannabinoids, protectins...) and in the synthesis of FAHFAs and analogues.