The Academic Ranking of World Universities, more commonly known as the Shanghai Ranking, was created in 2003 to identify the most influential universities among the 17,000 indexed in its system. Based mostly on research performance, the Shanghai Ranking comprises six criteria: number of alumni who are Nobel laureates & Fields Medalists; number of staff who are Nobel laureates or Fields medalists; number of researchers highly cited in their fields; number of publications in Nature and Science; number of articles indexed in Science Citation and Social Science Citation Indices; and academic performance as a function of the size of the institution.  

In 2019, the Paris-Saclay University¹ counted two Nobel laureates and ten Fields medalists in its ranks, as well as 35 most-cited researchers in their disciplines. Thirteen of these latter are affiliated with the CEA's Fundamental Research Division and four with the François Jacob Institute of Biology's national sequencing center Genoscope.

• Jean-Marc Aury works at Genoscope's Scientific Information Technology Laboratory and heads a bioinformatics and sequencing R&D team focused primarily on the processing of next generation sequencing data. His group interacts with the sequencing laboratory, the technological development team (development of novel protocols and deployment of new sequencers) and various research teams. The missions of Jean-Marc Aury's team include sequencing data formatting, data quality control, genome and transcriptome assembly and eukaryote genome annotation.
• Karine Labadie is a team leader within Genoscope's Sequencing Laboratory, which ensures the management of all data resulting from sequencing projects undertaken by Genoscope. The laboratory adapts standard protocols to the specificities of sequencing projects and monitors current and coming technologies in sequencing equipment.
• Julie Poulain is a molecular biologist working in the field of marine environmental genomics at the Laboratory for the Genomic Analysis of Eukaryotes (LAGE) within Genoscope's UMR 8030 Genomics Metabolics Unit. She participated in the Tara Pacific expedition, wherein she contributed to both the conception & implementation of genomic analysis protocols and the scientific logistics needed for collecting Pacific Ocean corals.
• Patrick Wincker directs the UMR 8030 Genomics Metabolics Unit, Genoscope's basic research unit. Its purpose is to explore the biodiversity of organisms via their genomes and thus contribute significantly to the understanding of life and evolution. The unit's work extends the concept of genome biodiversity to the chemical reactions enabled by living organisms. Patrick Wincker also heads LAGE, which studies not only the structure and evolution of eukaryote genomes but also the structure and function of environmental eukaryotic communities using bioinformatics methodologies. The lab is structured around a transversal research theme (orphan gene dynamics) and three study domains: plant genomics, fungal genomics and marine plankton metagenomics.

¹The experimental Paris-Saclay University was founded by decree in late 2019 for a period of ten years. It unites the former Paris-Sud University with four Grandes Écoles (institute for life sciences and industries AgroParisTech, CentraleSupélec, École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Optique Graduate School) and seven research organisms (CEA, CNRS, Inrae, Inria, Inserm, Onera, IHES). The Universities of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and Évry participate in its governance as associate member universities with an objective of fusion in or around 2025. In all, Paris-Saclay University counts 48,000 students, 9,000 researchers and teaching researchers, 8,500 technical and administrative personnel, 275 laboratories and 7 research organisms representing 13% of France's research potential.