Secondary education at the Marcelin Berthelot high school and the Arsonval college in Saint-Maur, baccalaureate in experimental sciences, 1958.
The first contribution of Roland Douce was the characterization of cardiolipin, the major lipid of the mitochondrial membrane of plants and animals, as phosphatidyl ethanolamine.
Roland Douce, in collaboration with industry, elucidated the biosynthesis pathways of several amino acids, and thus defined several potential targets for herbicide molecules.
[21][22] In this work, he greatly contributed to promoting the use of nuclear magnetic resonance in plant physiology.
[23] Roland Douce was passionate about the mountains and he made a major contribution to renovating and developing the botanical garden of the Col du Lautaret, and to setting up a research laboratory there, associated with the University of Grenoble.