University of Geneva, HUG, Areas of resarch, key players, biology, department molecular biology

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Areas of Research
Key Players

Biology and medicine have long been a strong point at the University of Geneva.

Recently, the Swiss government has designated the University of Geneva as the leader of a National Center in Genetics. Entitled Frontiers in Genetics: genes, chromosomes and development, the project brings together several levels of basic research (genetics cell biology, embryology), and links them to technological progress and a school for PhD students. The project is led by Denis Duboule , laureate of the Louis-Jeantet Prize of Medicine 1996 for his studies of genes so fundamental for the development of the embryo that they are pratically unchanged in insects and in humans.

Among other groups forming the National Center, figure two laureates of the Louis-Jeantet Prize, both in the Department of molecular biology at the Faculty of Sciences. Namely, Uli Laemmli, laureate in 1998, for elucidating aspects of the structure of chromosomes, and Uli Schibler, laureate in 2000, for identifying a series of genes that work together to define the 'biological clock' existing in every single cell in the organism.

Other prominent figures in the National Center include Stylianos Antonarakis at the Department of Medical Genetics (Faculty of Medicine), who has identified hundreds of new genes throughout the human genome, using new quantitative and semi-automated techniques. He is responsible for chromosome 21 in the successful world effort to sequence the human genome. Also at the Faculty of Medicine, Didier Trono's group has made major breakthroughs in understanding the molecular mechanisms that explain why certain genes only function in some tissues or under certain conditions. Finally, Susan Gasser helps us understand mechanisms of gene repression in yeast chromosomes.

Amos Bairoch and his colleagues are also at the origin of extraordinary developments in bioinformatics, leading to the creation of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics while Denis Hochstrasser and his colleagues have engaged in developping an industrial effort in proteomics.

There are many other areas of research ranging from work of Jean-David Rochaix at the Department of molecular biology on the genetics of photosythesis, the chemical reaction to which plants-and, indirectly, animals owe their very existence, to the group headed by Michel Muhlethaler of the Faculty of Medicine and working in collaboration with a French team, who succeeded in actually photographing sleep-promoting neurons, thus demonstrating that they are clearly different from surrounding nerve cells. Thanks to the press, their photograph of a single sleep-promoting cell went round the world.

Results such as these have been obtained not only thanks to good ideas, good equipment and hard work, but also because of the optimal integration of the University of Geneva in the global scientific community: every year, thousands of scientists converge on the Geneva-Lausanne area to follow various bio-medical conferences.

On-going collaborations with the University of Lausanne, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), and institutions such as the CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, and the University Hospitals of Geneva and Vaud, as well as multiple international collaborations, are also important factors for success.

University of Geneva - Geneva University Hospital

Areas of Research	Some key players
Apoptosis	M. Dubois-Dauphin - L.E. French - H. Lucas J.-C. Martinou
Bacteriology- parasitology- vaccination	S. Bas - D. Belin - C. Georgopoulos - D. Lew - L. Nicod - J.-C. Péchère - D. Pittet - S. Raina - K. Rose - J. Schrenzel - C. van Delden -G. Van Der Goot - P. Vaudaux
Bioinformatics, biomodelling	R. Appel - A. Bairoch - S. Edelstein
Cardiovascular physiology, pathology and disease	M. Beghetti - J.-L. Bény - P. Béris - H. Bounameaux - PA. Doriot - S. Edelstein - P. Giannakopoulos - R. Lerch -M. Licker - T. Matthes - M. Pepper - D. Rüfenacht - F. Sarasin
Diabetes & Obesity	F. Assimacopoulos - M. Bernstein - J.-L. Carpentier - B. Conrad - J.-P. Giacobino P. Halban - P. Herrera - R. James - P.B. Lynedjian - P. Maechler - P. Meda - J. Philippe - U. Vischer - C. Wollheim
Endocrinology	M. Aubert - J. Philippe - M. Rossier - W. Schlegel - E. Tribollet
Endocytosis, exocytosis, intracellular transport, phagocytosis	P. Cosson - J. Gruenberg - L. Orci - J.-P. Paccaud - K. Strub
Embryology, developmental biology, reproduction	M. Ballivet - P. Bischof - D. Duboule - B. Gaillot - P. Herrera - H. Lucas & C. de Vantéry Arrighi - J. Zakany - V. Pirrotta - D. Pauli - D. Rungger - J.-D. Vassalli - I. Rodriguez
Epithelial biology, cellular junctions, cell adhesion molecules	M. Chanson - S. Citi - P. Halban - J. Kiss P. Meda - R. Montesano
Gene expression (regulation, transcription, translation)and gene therapy, Chromosome organization	M. Ballivet - S. Clarkson - M. Collart - D. Duboule - B. Gaillot - S. Gasser - P.B. Lynedjian - F. Karch - A. Kramer - U. Laemmli - P. Linder - D. Pauli - J. Philippe - W. Reith - J.-D. Rochaix - L. Roux - D. Rungger - U. Schibler - W. Schlegel - D. Shore - P. Spierer - G. Spohr - K. Strub - M. Strubin - D. Trono - J.-D.Vassalli - J. Zakany - R. Zubler
History of Medicine	A. Carlino - B. Fantini - A. Mauron
Imaging (functional, optical,& )	J.-M. Annoni - PA. Doriot - S. Eliez - V. Ibanez - A. Major - P. Meda - C.Michel - C. Morel - M. Seeck - B. Vermeulen
Immunology & Transplantation- inflammation- infection	S. Bas - M. Chanson - J.-C. Chevrolet - C. Chizzoloni - B. Conrad - J.-M. Dayer - J.-L. Frossard - C. Gabay - E. Girardin - P.-A. Guerne - B. Imhof - S. Izui - P. Jolliet - K.-H. Krause - F. Mach - L. Nicod - J. Pugin - W. Reith - E. Roosnek - N. de Tribolet - W. Schlegel - JM Tiercy - R. Zubler
Medical genetics	S. Antonarakis - A. Malafosse - M. Tafti
Neurosciences (Neurophysiology, neuropsychology and pharmacology)	J.-M. Annoni - M. Ballivet - R. Baud - J.-J. Dreifuss - M. Dubois-Dauphin - S. Eliez - M. Gognalons-Nicolet - V. Ibanez - A. Kato - J. Kiss - K.-H. Krause - T. Landis - C. Luscher - A. Malafosse - C. Michel - Ch. Morel - M. Muhlethaler - D. Muller - M. Papaloïzos - E. Rungger-Brândle - W. Schlegel - M. Seeck - M. Tafti - E Tribollet - I. Rodriguez
Oncology (genetics, therapy,& )	P.-Y. Dietrich - L.E. French - A. Major - Ch. Morel - M. Pepper - D. Picard - A.-P. Sappino - W. Schlegel
Pharmaceutical Sciences (drug development, analysis and delivery)	E. Doelker - R. Gurny - R. Guy - M. Papaloïzos - S. Rudaz - J.-L. Veuthey
Physiology- physio-pathology (respiration, nutrition and digestion, excretion and homeostasis, locomotion, perception)	C. Bader - M. Beghetti - L. Bernheim - J.-P. Bonjour - J. Caverzasio - J.-C. Chevrolet - G. Ferretti - J.-L. Frossard - G. Gabbiani - E. Girardin - P.-A. Guerne - J.-P. Guyot - P. Jolliet - K.-H. Krause - F. Negro - L. Nicod - R. Rizzoli - E. Rungger-Brândle - A. Safran
Plant biology (microbiology, microbial ecology, algology, bioenergetics, plant physiology)	W.J. Broughton - C. Frankhauser - C. Penel - J.-D. Rochaix - R. Strasser - J.B. Lachavanne
Protein Folding and Molecular chaperones	C. Georgopoulos - D. Picard - S. Raina
Proteomics	E. Girardin - D. Hochstrasser - R. Offord - K. Rose
Public Health (physical activity, tobacco use, back troubles,& ) - epidemiology, population genetics	M. Bernstein - J.-F. Etter - P. Gache - G. Galli Carminati - J.-M. Gaspoz - M. Gognalons-Nicolet - J.-P. Humair - A. Kaelin - D. Pittet - F. Robert - L. Toscani - A. Langaney
Signal transduction (calcium signalling,& )	L. Bernheim - J. Cox - N. Demaurex - C. Fankhauser - E.Féraille - B. Gaillot - J. Lang - P.B. Lynedjian - M. Rossier - W. Schlegel - C. De Virgilio
Virology (HIV, hepatitis B, C,& )	D. Kolakofsky - F. Negro - L. Perrin - L. Roux - M. Strubin - D. Trono