Cathrin BriskenCathrin Brisken, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Life Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Dr. Brisken is internationally recognized for her work on endocrine control of mammary gland development and breast carcinogenesis.
Dr. Brisken received her MD and her PhD degree in Biophysics from the Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany. She completed her postdoctoral work in cancer biology with Dr. R.A. Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research in Cambridge, MA, USA. She previously held appointments at the Cancer Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston and the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC).
Research in Dr. Brisken’s laboratory focuses on the cellular and molecular underpinnings of estrogen and progesterone receptor signaling in the breast and the respective roles of these hormones and hormonally active compounds in carcinogenesis. The aim is to understand how recurrent exposures to endogenous and exogenous hormones contribute to breast carcinogenesis in order to better prevent and treat the disease. The laboratory has pioneered in vivo approaches to genetically dissect the role of the reproductive hormones in driving mouse mammary gland development and shown how they control intercellular communication. Dr. Brisken’s group has developed ex vivo and humanized mouse models using patient samples to study hormone action in human tissues in normal settings and during disease progression.
Dr. Brisken is member of the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) Biological Protocol Working Group. She served as Dean of EPFL Doctoral School (more than 2000 PhD students in 18 PhD programs), as member of the Hinterzartener Kreis, the oncology think-tank associated with the German Science Foundation, and numerous Swiss, European, and AACR committees. She co-founded the International Cancer Prevention Institute.
Sandro CarraraSandro Carrara a été nommé IEEE Fellow pour ses remarquables réalisations dans le domaine de la conception de biocapteurs CMOS à l'échelle nanométrique. Il a également reçu le prix "IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award" en 2016 pour son leadership dans le domaine émergent du co-design des interfaces Bio/Nano/CMOS. Il est un Professeur titulaire à l' EPFL à Lausanne (Suisse) et responsable du groupe de recherche "Bio/CMOS Interfaces" (BCI). Il est ancien professeur de biocapteurs optiques et électriques au Département de génie électrique et de biophysique (DIBE) de l'Université de Gênes (Italie) et ancien professeur de nanotechnologie à l'Université de Bologne (Italie). Il est titulaire d'un doctorat en biochimie et de biophysique de l'Université de Padoue (Italie), une master en physique de l'Université de Gênes (Italie), et un diplôme en électronique de l'Institut National de Technologie à Albenga (Italie). Ses intérêts scientifiques sont sur les phénomènes électriques de films nano-bio-structuré, et comprennent CMOS conception de biopuces à base de protéines et de l'ADN. Le long de sa carrière, il a publié 7 livres, l'un comme auteur avec Springer sur les interfaces Bio/CMOS et, plus récemment, un manuel de bioélectronique avec La prestigieuse Cambridge University Press. Il a également publié plus de 250 articles scientifiques et est l'auteur de 13 brevets. Il est maintenant chef rédacteur du Journal IEEE Sensors; il est également fondateur et chef rédacteur du Journal BioNanoScience par Springer, et rédacteur adjoint de IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Biomedical Systems. Il est membre du IEEE Sensors Council et de son comité exécutif. Il était membre du Conseil des gouverneurs de la IEEE Circuits And Systems Society (CASS). Il a été nommé IEEE conférencier émérite pour les années 2017-2019 pour le Conseil IEEE Sensors, et de la société CASS pour les années 2013-2014. Son travail a reçu plusieurs reconnaissances internationales: plusieurs Top-25 Hottest-articles (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, et deux fois en 2012) publiés dans des journaux internationales très fort impact telles que Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Sensors And Actuators B, IEEE Sensors, et Thin Solid Films; un Award à une conference de l'OTAN en 1996 pour la contribution originale à la physique de la conductivité à électron unique dans les nano-particules; six "Best Paper Awards" pour des articles présentés à la conférence IEEE Sensors Conference en 2019 (Montreal), IEEE NGCAS en 2017 (Genoa), MOBIHEALTH en 2016 (Milan), IEEE PRIME en 2015 (Glasgow), en 2010 (Berlin) et en 2009 (Cork), un prix de la meilleure affiche au rencontre annuel de Nanotera en 2011 (Berne), et un prix de la meilleure affiche au NanoEurope Symposium en 2009 (Rapperswil). De 1997 à 2000, il a été membre d'un comité international au ELETTRA Synchrotron à Trieste. De 2000 à 2003, il était responsable scientifique d'un Programme national de recherche (PNR) dans le dépôt de nanobiotechnologie. Il était un expert internationalement estimé du comité d'évaluation de l'Académie de Finlande dans un programme de recherche pour les années 2010-2013. Il a été le président général (General Chair) de la Conférence IEEE BioCAS 2014, le premier conférence internationale dans le domaine des circuits et des systèmes pour les applications biomédicales.
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.
Sandrine GerberSandrine Gerber studied chemistry at the "Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris" in France, where she obtained a diploma of chemical engineer in 1993. The same year she obtained a DEA (Master degree) of organic chemistry at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI, France). From 1993 to 1996 she did a PhD in organic chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Pierre Genêt at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris. In 1996, she moved to University of Lausanne for a post-doctoral stay under the supervision of Prof. Pierre Vogel. In 1998, she was appointed Maître-Assistante at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in the University of Lausanne. In 2003, she obtained the habilitation to direct research from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI, France). The same year, she was appointed scientific adjunct at the EPFL and senior scientist (Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche) in 2006. In December 2014, she was promoted to titular professor. Since September 2007, Sandrine Gerber is deputy to the director of the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC). She is also member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Chemical Society. Since 2007, Sandrine Gerber is part-time lecturer at the university of Fribourg. She was awarded the Prize Eugene Schueller in 1997, the Prize Dufour for prospective organic chemistry in 2005 and the Werner Prize 2010. She also received a special mention in recognition of exceptional quality of pedagogic competencies in the teaching of basic sciences, given by the Direction of the School of Biology and Medicine from the University of Lausanne, in 2013. In October 2018, she will receive the Prize for Excellence in Teaching from the section of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
Pierre VogelProfessional positions:
P. Vogel was born in Cully (Switzerland) Oct. 23, 1944. In 1969, he did his Ph.D Award under supervision of Prof. H. Prinzbach at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Lausanne. After finishing his Ph.D in 1969, he did post-doctoral research at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA with Prof. Martin Saunders; research associate with Prof. J. A. Berson, K. A. Wiberg and P.v.R. Schleyer (Princeton Universtiy). From 1971 he worked as a Research chemist at Syntex S.A., in Mexico with Prof. P.Crabbé before he returned to the University of Lausanne in 1972. As of 1977 he became Professor of organic chemistry at the University of Lausanne. In 1991 he was Vice-Chairman of the Institute of organic Chemistry, University of Lausanne until 2001. Then he was Part-time grad.school teacher at the Universitites of Rouen and Caen from 1991 to 1993 and Part-time professor at Ecole Polytechnique de Palaiseau from 1993-2000. From 2000-2001 he was reviewer of the "Institut Universitaire de France" and as of 2001 Professor of organic chemistry at the EPFL.
Degrees and distincions
1969 Ph.D, University of Lausanne
1976 Swiss Chemical Society Award, Werner Medal
1973-now Member of the Swiss Chemical Society, of the American Chemical
Society and "Société Française de Chimie"
1984-1989 IOCD adviser
1988-1989 Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at Ecole Normale
Supérieure, Paris
1989-2000 Member of the Swiss National Council of Research
1991-1992 Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Paris VI
1992 Pacific Coast Lecturer (USA)
1992-1993 Associate Professor at the Université de Montpellier, France
1993 Associate Professor, Université Paris Sud, Orsay
1993-1997 Swiss co-ordinator of the European COST D2 research program
1994 (spring) Associate Professor, ESPCI, Paris
1997 President of the european COST D2 management committee
1999 Coordinator of the european COSRD13
2001-now Member of the "Conseil Scientifique du Département des Sciences
Chimiques", CNRS
2002-2003 Novartis Lectureship
2004-2005 Boehringer INgelheim Distinguished Lecturer
Vassily HatzimanikatisDr. Vassily Hatzimanikatis is currently Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Lausanne, Switzerland. Vassily received a PhD and an MS in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and his Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the University of Patras, in Greece. After the completion of his doctoral studies, he held a research group leader position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland. Prior to joining EPFL, Vassily worked for three years in DuPont, Cargill, and Cargill Dow, and he has been assistant professor at Northwestern University, at Illinois, USA.
Vassilys research interests are in the areas of computational systems biology, biotechnology, and complexity. He is associate editor of the journals Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Metabolic Engineering and Integrative Biology, and he serves on the editorial advisory board of the journals Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, and Industrial Biotechnology. He has written over 70 technical publications and he is co-inventor in three patents and patent applications.
Vassily is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2010), he was a DuPont Young Professor (2001-2004), and he has also received the Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award in Metabolic Engineering (2000), and the ACS Elmar Gaden Award (2011).
