Denis DubouleDenis Duboule is born in 1955 and is both swiss and french national. He studied biology at the university of Geneva, where he obtained a PhD in mammalian embryology in 1984. He then spent 10 years abroad, first as a group leader in the medical faculty in Strasbourg (France), then at the European Laboratory for Molecular Biology (EMBL) in Germany. In 1993, he was appointed full professor at the university of Geneva, where he chairs the department of Genetics and Evolution ever since 1997. In 2001, he chaired the national center of research Frontiers in Genetics and in 2012 the division III of the SNSF. In 2006, he was appointed full professor at the federal institute of technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, where he leads the laboratory of Developmental Genomics (UpDUB).
His research activities are in the fields of embryology, genetics and developmental genomics of mammals, in an evolutionnary context. In particular, his laboratory has been closely associated with the structural and functional studies of mammalian Hox genes, by using mouse molecular genetic approaches. Duboule is also active in the communication of science, is member of the Academia Europea as well as of several academies in Switzerland, France and the Netherland. He is a foreign member of the Royal Society (UK) and of the National Academy of Sciences USA. He has received various scientific prizes and awards, amongst which the Marcel Benoist Prize, the Louis-Jeantet prize for medicine in 1998 or the international INSERM prize in 2010 (see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Duboule). Johan AuwerxJohan Auwerx is Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he occupies the Nestle Chair in Energy Metabolism. Dr. Auwerx has been using molecular physiology and systems genetics to understand metabolism in health, aging and disease. Much of his work focused on understanding how diet, exercise and hormones control metabolism through changing the expression of genes by altering the activity of transcription factors and their associated cofactors. His work was instrumental for the development of agonists of nuclear receptors - a particular class of transcription factors - into drugs, which now are used to treat high blood lipid levels, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Auwerx was amongst the first to recognize that transcriptional cofactors, which fine-tune the activity of transcription factors, act as energy sensors/effectors that influence metabolic homeostasis. His research validated these cofactors as novel targets to treat metabolic diseases, and spurred the clinical use of natural compounds, such as resveratrol, as modulators of these cofactor pathways.
Johan Auwerx was elected as a member of EMBO in 2003 and is the recipient of a dozen of international scientific prizes, including the Danone International Nutrition Award, the Oskar Minkowski Prize, and the Morgagni Gold Medal. His work is highly cited by his peers with a h-factor of over 100. He is an editorial board member of several journals, including Cell Metabolism, Molecular Systems Biology, The EMBO Journal, Journal of Cell Biology, Cell, and Science. Dr. Auwerx co-founded a handful of biotech companies, including Carex, PhytoDia, and most recently Mitobridge, and has served on several scientific advisory boards.
Dr. Auwerx received both his MD and PhD in Molecular Endocrinology at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. He was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Urs von GuntenURS VON GUNTEN
born in Baden (Switzerland) on 20/10/1959
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Drinking water quality and water treatment. Unit processes and process combinations (adsorption processes, membrane processes, oxidation processes). Chemical oxidation and advanced oxidation processes: kinetics and mechanisms of formation of disinfection by-products and degradation of micropollutants. Assessment of toxicology of of transformation products. Biogeochemical processes in riverbank filtration systems. In situ and out-of-ground treatment of groundwaters
EDUCATION
Diploma Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, Department of Chemistry,Switzerland, 1983
Ph.D.Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, Switzerland, 1989.
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2018 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher
2015 Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher
2015 Recipient of the Harvey Rosen Award 2015 of the International Ozone Association
2015 Professorship under the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative for Distinguished Scientists
2014 Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher
2013 Distinguished Lecturer for AEESP at the American Water Works Association Annual Conference, Denver, June 10, 2013
2012-to date Adjunct Professor at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea
2011 Full Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL)
2010 Adjunct Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic
Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2010 Adjunct Professor at the Curtin University of Technology, Perth,
Australia
2007 Honorary Professorship at the Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin,
China
2007 Recipient of the Harvey Rosen Award 2007 of the International Ozone
Association
2007 Environmental Science and Technology Excellence in Review Award
2006 Professor title at ETHZ, Department of Environmental Sciences
2001 Recipient of the Harvey Rosen Award 2001 of the International Ozone
Association
1999 Recipient of the Marteen Schalekamp Award 1999 of the IWSA
1993 Recipient of a short-term fellowship of the Swiss National Science
Foundation in 1993 and 1994
1993 EERO short-term fellowship-holder
PROFESSIONAL RECORD
2013-2016 Head of transdisciplinary project “Regional Water Supply Basel Country 21”, Eawag
2010-2017 Head of Competence Center for Drinking Water, Eawag
2008/2009 Visiting Professor at the Curtin Water Quality Research Centre,
Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
2004-to date Deputy head of department Water Resources and Drinking Water,
Eawag
2004-2008 Head of the cross-cutting project Drinking water for the 21st
century, Eawag
2000 2004 Head of department Water Resources and Drinking Water, Eawag
2000/2001 Sabbatical at University of Colorado, Boulder
1998 - 1999 Head of department of Chemistry, Eawag
1995 - 2011 Lecturer at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich,
Switzerland.
1995- to date Group leader of the drinking water group of the chemistry
department at Eawag
1994/93 Visiting Scientist at the International Research Center for
Water and Environment of Lyonnaise des Eaux (8 months),
CIRSEE, Le Pecq, France
since 1992 Research Scientist at Eawag
1989 - 1991 Postdoctoral Researcher at Eawag
1984 - 1989 Research Assistant, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology,
Zürich
EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES
Associate Editor Environmental Science and Technology (2010/2011)
Guest Editor Water Research for special issue on Emerging
Contaminants (2010)
Guest Editor Journal of water supply: Research and
Technology-Aqua for a special issue on Oxidation Processes (2008)
Member of the editorial board of the journal Ozone: Science and Engineering.
Member of the editorial board of Journal of water supply: Research and Technology-Aqua.
FORMER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2016 Co-organizer of PEAK seminar ”Neue Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze in der Wasserversorgung – Fallbeispiele aus dem Kanton BL”. Dübendorf, November 11, 2016
2015 Organizer of PEAK seminar “Micropollutants in drinking water”, Dübendorf, October 30
2014 Co-organizer of the Eawag Infotag “Wasserversorgung und Uferfiltration – ein System unter Druck?” Dübendorf, September 9, 2014
2014 Co-organizer of a Symposium “Advanced oxidation processes for water treatment” 5th EuCheMS Chemistry Congress 2014, Aug. 31 – Sept. 4, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014
2013 Co-Organizer of PEAK seminar on “Oxidation and Disinfection Processes”, Aug. 30, Dübendorf
2013 Co-Organizer of the Micropoll & Ecohazard Conference, Zürich, June 17-19, 2013
2013 Co-Organizer of the session “Advanced Oxidation – Technologies and Applications, Leading Edge Technology (LET) Conference, Bordeaux, June 2-6, 2013
2011 Co-Organizer of Korean-Swiss Science Days in Zürich “Water for the Future”, ETHZ, November 9-10, 2011.
2010 Co-Organizer of an international symposium “Oxidation processes in natural and technical aquatic systems” in honour of Jürg Hoigné’s 80 birthday, Eawag, May 21, 2010.
2010 Co-Organizer of 23. Mülheimer Wassertechnisches Seminar “Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von oxidativen Prozessen in der Wasserreinhaltung”, March 11, 2010, IWW, Mülheim an der Ruhr
2008 Co-Organizer of the Eawag Infotag 2008 “Vom Gewässer ins Glas”, Sept. 12, 2008, Eawag, Dübendorf
2008 Organizing committee of Leading Edge Technology Conference (LET), Zürich, June 1-4, 2008.
2008 Co-organizer of Sino-Swiss workshop “Water Resources Management and Drinking Water Quality”, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, January, 2008
2007 Organizer of Wave21 seminar on “New insights in the field of drinking water treatment”, Dübendorf, Sept. 14, 2007.
2007 Co-organizer of a symposium entitled “Sustainability in Water Supply: Advances in Oxidation Processes for Water Treatment” at ACS Spring conference, Chicago, March 25-29, 2007.
2006 Organizer of Wave21 seminar on “New developments of analytical methods for drinking water analysis”, Dübendorf, Sept. 15, 2006,
2005 Organizer of Wave21 seminar on “New applications of ozone in water treatment”, Sept. 23, 2005, Dübendorf
1999 Co-organizer of 200th Anniversary Symposium in honor of Ch. F. Schönbein - the discoverer of ozone, October 1999, Basel.
1995 Organizer of a symposium in honor of J. Hoigné, June, 1995, Dübendorf, Switzerland
1991 Co-organizer of the workshop "Chemodynamics of Groundwaters", November, 1991, Mont Sainte-Odile, France
Pierre MagistrettiPierre J. Magistretti is an internationally-recognized neuroscientist who has made significant contributions in the field of brain energy metabolism. His group has discovered some of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the coupling between neuronal activity and energy consumption by the brain.
This work has considerable ramifications for the understanding of the origin of the signals detected with the current functional brain imaging techniques used in neurological and psychiatric research (see for example Magistretti et al, Science, 283: 496 497, 1999). He is the author of over 100 articles published in peer-reviewed journals.
He has given over 80 invited lectures at international meetings or at universities in Europe and North America, including the 2000 Talairach Lecture at the Functional Mapping of the Human Brain Conference. In November 2000 he has been a Mc Donnel Visiting Scholar at Washington University School of Medicine.
Pierre J. Magistretti is the President-Elect (2002 2004) of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) which has a membership of over 15000 European neuroscientists. He has been first president of the Swiss Society for Neuroscience (1997-1999) and the first Chairman of the Department of Neurosciences of the University of Lausanne (1996 1998).
Pierre J. Magistretti is Professor of Physiology (since 1988) at the University of Lausanne Medical School. He has been Vice-Dean of the University of Lausanne Medical School from 1996 to 2000. Pierre Magistretti, is Director of the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL and Director of the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience of the University of Lausanne and CHUV. He is also Director of the NCCR SYNAPSY "the synaptic bases of mental diseases".
POSITIONS AND HONORS
MAIN POSITION HELD
1988-2004 Professor of Physiology, University of Lausanne Medical School
1996-2000 Vice-Dean for Preclinical Departments, University of Lausanne Medical School
2001-2004 Chairman, Department of Physiology, University of Lausanne Medical School
2004-present Professor and Director, Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, University of Lausanne Medical School and Hospitals (UNIL-CHUV) (Joint appointment with EPFL)
2005-2008 Professor and Co-Director, Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne (Joint appointment with UNIL-CHUV)
2007-present Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of Centre dImagerie Biomédicale (CIBM), an Imaging Consortium of the Universities, University Hospitals of Lausanne and Geneva and of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2008-present Professor and Director, Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne Joint appointment with UNIL-CHUV)
2010-present Director, National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR)
The synaptic bases of mental diseases of the Swiss National Science Foundation
2010-present Secretary General, International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)
MAIN HONORS AND AWARDS
1997 Recipient of the Theodore-Ott Prize of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences
2001 Elected Member of Academia Europaea
2001 Elected Member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, ad personam
2002 Recipient of the Emil Kraepelin Guest Professorship, Max Planck Institute für Psychiatry, Münich
2006 Elected Professor at Collège de France, Paris, International Chair 2007-2008
2009 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic Scholarship, Canadian Psychological Association
2011 Camillo Golgi Medal Award, Golgi Fondation
2011 Elected Member of the American College of NeuroPsychopharmacology (ACNP)
Christof HolligerOriginaire d'Adliswil, Christof Holliger est né en 1959. Diplômé de l'ETHZ en biologie en 1984, il mène des travaux de recherche dans le domaine de la microbiologie environnementale à l'Université d'Agriculture de Wageningen (Pays-Bas) où il obtient son doctorat en Science de l'environnement en 1992. En 1992, il retourne en Suisse engagé comme collaborateur scientifique et chef de groupe à l'Institut Fédéral pour l'Aménagement, l'Epuration et la Protection des Eaux (EAWAG) à Kastanienbaum. Il y continue ses recherches sur la déchloruration réductrice, commencées aux Pays-Bas, et dirige des travaux sur la réduction des composés nitroaromatiques, la réduction du fer et la méthanogenèse psychrophile dans les sédiments des lacs. En octobre 1998, il est nommé professeur assistant en biotechnologie environnementale au Département de génie rural de l'EPFL. Ses recherches visent l'application des micro-organismes anaérobies pour le traitement des eaux résiduaires. En novembre 2004, il est nommé professeur associé et devient responsable du laboratoire de biotechnologie environnementale à la Faculté de l'Environnement naturel, architectural et construit. L'utilisation des techniques de la biologie moléculaire pour la caractérisation des communautés microbiennes impliquées dans le biotraitement de l'air, des eaux et des sols pollués est un outil clé dans les différents projets de recherche visants le développement des nouveaux procédés de traitement.
Hubert GiraultEducation: 1979 - Engineering diploma from Grenoble Institute of Technology. FRANCE. 1982 - PhD- Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton. Thesis entitled : Interfacial studies using drop image processing techniques. Positions : 1982 - 1984 SERC Research Fellow. University of Southampton. 1984 - 1985 CNRS Research Fellow. University of Southampton. 1985 - 1992 Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Edinburgh. 1992 - Professor of Physical Chemistry, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. 2011 - 2014 Dean of Bachelor and Master studies Hubert Girault is the author of 2 textbooks, the co-author of about 600 scientific publications with more than 20'000 citations and the co-inventor of more than 15 patents. During his academic career, he has supervised 70 PhD students. 30 alumni of his laboratory are now Professors. Honours: Faraday medal 2006, Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry 2007, Reilley Award 2015. Fellow of the Electrochemical Society (USA), Shikata International medal, Polarography Society of Japan. Associate editor of Chemical Science
François MaréchalPh D. in engineering Chemical process engineer
Researcher and lecturer in the field of computer aided process and energy systems engineering.
Lecturer in the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and environmental sciences engineering in EPFL.
I'm responsible for the Minor in Energy of EPFL and I'm involved in 3 projects of the Competence Center in Energy and Mobility (2nd generation biofuel, Wood SOFC, and gas turbine development with CO2 mitigation) in which i'm contributing to the energy conversion system design and optimisation.
Short summary of my scientific carrer
After a graduation in chemical engineering from the University of Liège, I have obtained a Ph. D. from the University of Liège in the LASSC laboratory of Prof. Kalitventzeff (former president of the European working party on computer aided process engineering). This laboratory was one of the pioneering laboratory in the field of Computer Aided Process Engineering.
In the group of Professor Kalitventzeff, I have worked on the development and the applications of data reconciliation, process modelling and optimisation techniques in the chemical process industry, my experience ranges from nuclear power stations to chemical plants. In the LASSC, I have been responsible from the developments in the field of rational use of energy in the industry. My first research topic has been the methodological development of process integration techniques, combining the use of pinch based methods and of mathematical programming: e.g. for the design of multiperiod heat exchanger networks or Mixed integer non linear programming techniques for the optimal management of utility systems. Fronted with applications in the industry, my work then mainly concentrated on the optimal integration of utility systems considering not only the energy requirements but the cost of the energy requirements and the energy conversion systems. I developed methods for analysing and integrating the utility system, the steam networks, combustion (including waste fuel), gas turbines or other advanced energy conversion systems (cogeneration, refrigeration and heat). The techniques applied uses operation research tools like mixed integer linear programming and exergy analysis. In order to evaluate the results of the utility integration, a new graphical method for representing the integration of the utility systems has been developed. By the use of MILP techniques, the method developed for the utility integration has been extended to handled site scale problems, to incorporate environmental constraints and reduce the water usage. This method (the Effect Modelling and Optimisation method) has been successfully applied to the chemical plants industry, the pulp and paper industry and the power plant. Instead of focusing on academic problems, I mainly developed my research based on industrial applications that lead to valuable and applicable patented results. Recently the methods developed have been extended to realise the thermoeconomic optimisation of integrated systems like fuel cells. My present R&D work concerns the application of multi-objective optimisation strategies in the design of processes and integrated energy conversion systems.
Since 2001, Im working in the Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory (LENI) of Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where Im leading the R&D activities in the field of Computer Aided Analysis and Design of Industrial Energy Systems with a major focus on sustainable energy conversion system development using thermo-economic optimisation methodologies. A part from the application and the development of process integration techniques, that remains my major field of expertise, the applications concern :
Rational use of water and energy in Industrial processes and industrial production sites : projects with NESTLE, EDF, VEOLIA and Borregaard (pulp and paper).Energy conversion and process design : biofuels from waste biomass (with GASNAT, EGO and PSI), water dessalination and waste water treatment plant (VEOLIA), power plant design (ALSTOM), Energy conversion from geothermal sources (BFE). Integrated energy systems in urban areas : together with SCANE and SIG (GE) and IEA annexe 42 for micro-cogeneration systems.
I as well contributed to the definition of the 2000 Watt society and to studies concerning the emergence of green technologies on the market in the frame of the Alliance for Global Sustainability.
Claudia Rebeca Binder SignerClaudia R. Binder, a Swiss, Canadian and Colombian citizen, was born in Montreal and spent most of her childhood in Switzerland and Colombia. She studied at ETH Zurich from 1985 to 1996, earning a degree in biochemistry and then a PhD in environmental sciences. After conducting her post-doctoral research at the University of Maryland in the US from 1996 to 1998, she returned to Switzerland and took a position as a senior research scientist at ETH Zurich, studying the interaction between human and environmental systems at the Institute for Natural and Social Science Interface. In 2006, Binder joined the University of Zurich as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, and in 2009 moved to the University of Graz in Austria where she served as a full professor of systems science. In 2011, she took a position at the University of Munich’s Department of Geography as a full professor of human-environment relations.
Binder joined EPFL in March 2016 and set up the Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) at ENAC; she also holds the La Mobilière Chair on Urban Ecology and Sustainable Living.
Her research involves analyzing, modelling and assessing the transition of urban systems towards sustainability. She looks in particular at how we can better understand the dynamics of urban metabolism, what characterizes a sustainable city, and what drives and hinders transformation processes. She does so by combining knowledge from social, natural and data science. Her research focuses on food, energy, and sustainable living and transport in urban systems.
In Switzerland, Binder was appointed to the Research Council, Programs Division of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2016 and serves on the Steering Committee of the SNSF’s National Research Program 71, “Managing Energy Consumption” and the Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCER). She is also a member of the Steering Board on Sustainability Research for the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the University Council of the University of Munich (LMU).
At EPFL, Binder is the academic director of Design Together, a cross-disciplinary teaching initiative. She was appointed to the management team of the Energy Center in 2018 and as head of the working group on EPFL’s energy and sustainability strategy in 2019.