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.
Freddy RadtkeFreddy Radtke obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zürich in 1994. In 1995, he started his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Michel Aguet at Genentech, Inc. (San Francisco, USA). In 1997, he returned to Switzerland with Michel Aguet and finished his postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in Lausanne. From 1999‑2005, he was a group leader and Associate Member at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Freddy Radtke then joined ISREC in January 2006 as a senior scientist and in July 2006, he was appointed Associate Professor at the EPFL School of Life Sciences
Paul Joseph DysonPaul Dyson rejoignit l’EPFL en 2002 à la tête du Laboratoire de chimie organométallique et médicinale de l’Institut des sciences et ingénierie chimiques, dont il en assuma ensuite la direction entre 2008 et 2016.
Le prof. Dyson a été récompensé par de nombreux prix dont le Prix Werner de la Société Suisse de Chimie en 2004, le Prix pour les réalisations exceptionnelles en chimie bio organométallique en 2010, la Médaille du Centenaire de la naissance de Luigi Sacconi (2011) de la Société Italienne de Chimie, le Prix de Chimie bio-inorganique de la Royal Society of Chemistry en 2015, le Prix européen pour une chimie durable de la Société Européenne de Chimie en 2018 et le Prix pour la chimie verte de la Royal Society of Chemistry en 2020.
Le prof. Dyson est également mentionné dans la liste établie par Clarivate des chercheurs les plus cités (Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher), avec un H-index >110 (Web of Science et Google Scholar). Paul Dyson a été élu membre de la Royal Société de Chimie en 2010, membre de l’Académie Européenne des Sciences en 2019 et membre à vie de l’Association Américaine pour l’Avancement de la Science en 2020. Au cours des dernières années il s’est vu décerner le titre de Professeurs Hôte par l’Université de Bourgogne, l’Université de Pierre et Marie Curie, l’Université de Vienne, l’Université de Rome Tor Vergara, l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de chimie de Paris (Chimie ParisTech) et par l’Université de Shangai Jiao Tong.
De 2016 à 2021 il était membre du conseil de la recherche de la division de mathématique, sciences naturelles et de l’ingénieur du Fonds National Suisse. En 2021, il a été nommé doyen de la Faculté des Sciences de Base.
Françoise Gisou van der Goot GrunbergGisou van der Goot est responsable du Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire et Membranaire et co-fondatrice de l'Institut dInfectiologie, à la Faculté des Sciences de la Vie de l'EPFL.Depuis 2021, Prof. van der Goot est Vice-présidente pour la transformation responsable, moteur du changement de l’EPFL vers une culture inclusive et un campus durable. De 2014 à 2020, Prof. van der Goot a occupé la fonction de Doyenne de cette même Faculté.Avant sa nomination à l'EPFL, en 2006, elle était Cheffe de Groupe à la Faculté des Sciences de lUniversité de Genève (UNIGE), puis Professeure Associée à la Faculté de Médecine. Prof. van der Goot a d'abord obtenu un diplôme dIngénieur de l'Ecole Centrale de Paris avant dentamer une thèse en Biophysique Moléculaire au CEA de Saclay (Université de Paris VI), suivie dun séjour postdoctoral au Laboratoire Européen de Biologie Moléculaire (EMBL) à Heidelberg (Allemagne). Différentes distinctions lui ont été décernées, dont, en 2001, le Prix Young Investigator de l'EMBO (Organisation européenne de Biologie Moléculaire), puis, en 2005, le soutien par le programme international du Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI, Etats-Unis); en 2009, elle a été la première femme à obtenir le Prix Marcel Benoist. La même année, elle est élue membre de lEMBO. Les domaines dexpertise du Prof. van der Goot incluent les mécanismes moléculaires et cellulaires des toxines bactériennes, l'organisation des membranes (des mammifères) et la biologie des organelles. Prof. van der Goot est membre du conseil scientifique de diverses organisations telles que le Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique (SNF), le Conseil Suisse de la Science et de la Technologie (CSST) et le Conseil Européen de la Recherche (ERC).
Peter Martin BeardPeter Beard studied mathematics, physics and chemistry at the University of Glasgow. After graduating in biochemistry, he moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, where he obtained his PhD with L.V. Crawford in 1971. He then worked with P. Berg at Stanford University at the time the idea of gene cloning was first being tested. After initially joining B. Hirt in the Virology group at ISREC, he subsequently became a member of the senior scientific staff and was appointed as EPFL Adjunct Professor (professeur titulaire) in 2008. His work has focused on the relation between viral infections and cancer. Since 2011 he is Professor Emeritus and works with the undergraduate Teaching Section of Life Sciences and Technology on coordinating the Master's program in Molecular Medicine.
Michel AguetDr. Michel Aguet, MD, held positions in academia and industry (Associate Professor at the Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Zürich; Head of Molecular Oncology, Genentech, So. San Francisco) before he was appointed director of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) (1996-2009). In the context of the integration of ISREC into the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), he was appointed as Full Professor at the newly established School of Life Sciences in 2005. From 2001-2013 he directed the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Molecular Oncology, a national program launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation to encourage translational cancer research and for which ISREC was the leading house. Dr. Aguet has been a SAB member in the pharmaceutical industry, biotech industry and venture capital industry since 1997.
A large part of his scientific career was devoted to exploring the molecular biology of interferons (cloning of the interferon gamma receptor, generation of various interferon signaling mutants in the mouse) and, in collaboration with Prof. Charles Weissmann, to investigating the role of prion related protein PrP in mouse prion disease models. In recent years his research focused on characterizing the role of BCL9 proteins, which are part of the Wnt/beta-catenin transcriptional activation complex, in regulating stem cell traits in intestinal epithelium and colorectal cancer. His laboratory is now closed due to retirement.
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)
Florian Maria WurmFlorian Wurm received his academic training as a Biologist and Molecular Geneticist at the University of Giessen. He joined the Hoechst AG (Behringwerke) in Marburg as head of a laboratory in Virology. Working with immortalized mammalian cells for the establishment of production processes for alpha-interferons provided the first opportunity to combine basic research with medical application. In 1984 he joined Harvard Medical School in Boston as a Research Fellow in Molecular Biology. 1986 he took an offer from Genentech Inc. in San Francisco to work in Process Sciences on the development of large scale manufacturing processes for recombinant proteins. There he has held a number of leading positions and has acquired intimate knowledge in the generation of protein pharmaceuticals in mammalian cells in bioreactors (a number of which are now marketed products). In 1995 he joined the EPFL as a Professor for Biotechnology. Wurm has published more than 250 scientific papers and holds more than 20 patents/patent-applications. His H-index stands at 60 in 2021. He was Chairman (2005-2009) and is member of the Executive Board of the European Society of Animal Cell Technology (ESACT). He serves as a consultant to the pharmaceutical Biotech Industry, mainly in the fields of animal cell technology for recombinant protein production and in regulatory affairs. He works as a scientific reviewer and editior/asscciate editor for a number of international journals in the Biotech field. F.M. Wurm teaches classes to pre- and postgraduate students in the fields of Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology.
He was founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ExcellGene SA, a 2001 established company in Monthey, Switzerland. He took the position of President and CEO of ExcellGene in 2015. He retired from the CEO position in 2017 and continues to be President and Chief Scientific Officer of ExcellGene.
In 2008 Dr. Wurm was appointed Visiting Professor for Biotechnology at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China. He retired from his position at the EPFL in 2015. His laboratory is closed. With his team at ExcellGene and in collaboration with Dr. Paco Pino, Director of R&D, he continues to explore manufacturing sciences with animal cells in bioreactors.
