University of Geneva chosen to host two out of ten national research projects!

GENEVA, Switzerland, December 19, 2000 - The successful national research project candidates were announced this morning by the Federal Department of Internal Affairs. Two projects out of the ten selected, to be started as of 2001, will be conducted by the University of Geneva. They are Frontiers in genetics: Genes, chromosomes and development, headed by Professor Denis Deboule, one of four in the field of Life Sciences; and Materials with novel electronic properties, which deals with the electronic materials of tomorrow such as superconductors and ferroelectric materials, under Professor Øystein Fisher.

The Lake Léman region: a centre of excellence in genomics

Ever since the decoding of the human genome began, Life Science research has been progressing at an ever-increasing pace, raising great hopes that the treatment of many diseases will become a reality. The region of the lake Léman has a role to play on the international scene as a centre of expertise, notably thanks to the Science, Vie, Société program, which will include the project Frontiers in Genetics: Genes, chromosomes and development. The project is made up of three main axes: conducting fundamental research, creating technology platforms and establishing a doctoral school to form future researchers for the project.

Highly specialised researchers from 15 eminent laboratories, mainly in the Leman region with the participation of the University of Zurich, will work together to pinpoint how genes function, how chromosomes are structured and how cells function.

A further aim of the project is to firmly establish high technology in the region of the lake Léman, by regrouping available resources, which will in turn allow researchers based in the area to compete at an international level.

Finally, the establishment of a doctoral school will open up possibilities for Swiss students as well as foreign students to receive grants allowing them to complete their thesis in one or several institutions of the lake Léman region. Reorganising how Life Science is taught means that students will be able to make the most of the expertise and diversity, as well as the synergy, of the laboratories around the Lake Geneva area.