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.
Giovanna AmbrosiniCurrent Position Senior Scientist, School of Life Sciences, Bioinformatics Competence Center, école Polythechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne.Senior bioinformatician and software engineer with proven experience working in higher education institutions. Solid experience in scientific computing and web design. Proficient in physics and computational genomics, with a focus on high-throughput genomic sequencing data analysis (ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq, scRNA-seq, and exome sequencing) and other types of
Elisa OricchioExpertise
Cancer geneticsMouse modelsTherapyStem cellsLymphoma
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Vamsi Krishna Polavarapu, Asli Ece Kasapoglu, Konstantina Georgakopoulou, Eleni Balli Past EPFL PhD Students Maria Christine Donaldson, Elena Battistello, Daniel Pereira Duarte, Frédérica Schyrr, Ruxandra-Andreea Lambuta, Aaron Simone Petruzzella, Jixing Zhong, Justine Epiney Courses Cancer biology I BIO-471 The course covers in detail molecular mechanisms of cancer development with emphasis on cell
Didier TronoAfter obtaining an M.D. from the University of Geneva and completing a clinical training in pathology, internal medicine and infectious diseases in Geneva and at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Didier Trono embarked in a scientific career at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research of MIT. In 1990, he joined the faculty of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies to launch a center for AIDS research. He moved back to Europe seven years later, before taking the reins of the newly created EPFL School of Life Sciences, which he directed from 2004 to 2012. He is now actively engaged in the efforts of Switzerland to integrate new technologies in the fields of precision medicine and personalized health.
Priscilla TurelliPositions
2005-now: Research associate, Federal School of Life Sciences, Laboratory of Virology and Genetics, Lausanne, Switzerland
2001-2004: Research associate in Pr D. Tronos laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Geneva School of Medicine, Switzerland
1997-2001: Post-doctoral research fellow in Pr D. Tronos laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Geneva School of Medicine, Switzerland
Honors and fellowships
2004: Bristol-Myers Squibb AIDS AWARD
1997-1999: Human Frontier Science Program fellowship
Education
June 1997:
PhD in cellular biology.
Final mark:jury congratulations.
Université de la Méditerranée, France.
June 1993:
Post-graduate diploma in cellular biology and microbiology.
INSERM U372, Marseille-Luminy, université de Provence, France.
June 1992:
Master in cellular biology Specialty: genetic.
Final mark: Best master student of this year.
Université de la Méditerranée, France.
June 1987:
Scientific baccalaureate, France.
Teaching experience
2009-now: phD thesis co-director, School of Life Sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland.
2002: Tutor in virology for medical students, 2nd year, Geneva School of Medicine, Switzerland.
1996-1997: Tutor in molecular biology and biochemistry for under-graduate students,
Université de la Méditerranée, Aix Marseille II, France.
Stéphane JoostExpertise
Geographic Information Science and spatial statisticsMolecular ecology, Landscape genomics, Seascape genomicsSpatial epidemiology, Health geographics
Publications Publications- List of publications
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Marco André Vieira Ruas, Manon Laetitia Pribille, Martine Valérie Besse Past EPFL PhD Students Estelle Rochat, Solange Catherine Gaillard, Oliver Michele Selmoni, Anaïs Ladoy, Annie Sandrine Guillaume Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Sylvie Stucki, Kevin Leempoel, Martí
Christian IseliTeaching & PhD Courses Bioinformatic Analysis of RNA-sequencing (Fall) BIO-693(a) Bioinformatic Analysis of RNA-sequencing (Spring) BIO-693(b) This course will take place at EPFL in June 2026, from 8th to 12th, in room AAC 137.It introduces the workflows and techniques that are used for the analysis of bulk and single-cell RNA-seq data. It empowers students to understand and analyze their own data. Methods: omics in biomedical research BIOENG-519 High-throughp
Nicolas Jean Philippe GuexTeaching & PhD Courses Bioinformatic Analysis of RNA-sequencing (Fall) BIO-693(a) Bioinformatic Analysis of RNA-sequencing (Spring) BIO-693(b) This course will take place at EPFL in June 2026, from 8th to 12th, in room AAC 137.It introduces the workflows and techniques that are used for the analysis of bulk and single-cell RNA-seq data. It empowers students to understand and analyze their own data. Methods: omics in biomedical research BIOENG-519 High-throughp
Bruno LemaitrePersonal Webpage
http://brunolemaitre.ch
Personal Webpage http://brunolemaitre.ch
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Blandine Ribotta, Yao Tian, Désirée Popelka, Prince Kumar Sah, Siqi Wang, Kenan Krakovic, Nathan Alexandre Klotz Past EPFL PhD Students Sveta Chakrabarti, Olivier Binggeli, Jeremy Keith Herren, Juan Camilo Paredes Escobar, Alfred Chng, Maroun Bou Sleiman, Jan Paul Dudzic, Mario Gonzalo Garcia Arraez, Claudia Melcarne, Alice Marra, Bianca Marie Petrignani, Mark Austin Hanson, Alexia Laurie Carboni Bruno Emanuel Ferreira De Sousa CorreiaThroughout my PhD and postdoctoral studies I was trained in world-renowned laboratories and institutions in the United States of America (University of Washington and The Scripps Research Institute). Very early in my scientific career I found out my fascination about protein structure and function. My PhD studies evolved in the direction of immunogen design and vaccine engineering which sparked my interest in the many needs and opportunities in vaccinology and translational research. My efforts resulted in an enlightening piece of work where for the first time, computationally designed immunogens elicited potent neutralizing antibodies. During my postdoctoral studies I joined a chemical biology laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute. In this stage I developed novel chemoproteomics methods for the identification of protein-small molecule interaction sites in complex proteomes. In March 2015, I joined the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) – Switzerland as a tenure track assistant professor. The focus of my research group is to develop computational tools for protein design with particular emphasis in applying these strategies to immunoengineering (e.g. vaccine and cancer immunotherapy). The activities in my laboratory focus on computational design methods development and experimental characterization of the designed proteins. Our laboratory has been awarded with 2 prestigious research grants from the European Research Council. Lastly, I have been awarded the prize for best teacher of Life sciences in 2019.
Bernard SchneiderTeaching & PhD PhD Students Yesica Gloria, Christian Schellhaas Past EPFL PhD Students Vanessa Laversenne, Sameer Mohammad Khaleel Nazeeruddin, Emma Charlotta Källstig Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Philippe Guillaume Coune, Emilda Pino, Elisabeth Anne Dirren, Aurélien Lathuilière, Wojciech Janusz Bobela, Lu Zheng, Cylia Cloé Rochat Courses Methods: from disease models to therapy BIOENG-518 This course will describe methods underlying translational approaches from disease modeling an
Paolo De Los RiosPaolo De Los Rios earned his master in Electronic Engineering at the Turin Institute of Technology (Politecnico di Torino) in May 1993. In November 1993 he moved to Trieste, Italy, to enter the PhD program in Theoretical Condensed Matter Theory at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA/ISAS) where he obtained the PhD degree in October 1996 for his work on the statistical physics of disordered systems. After a one year postdoc at the Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany, in November 1997 he moved to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, to join the group of Prof. Yi-Cheng Zhang. There he has worked on various applications of statistical physics to complex systems. In September 2000 he has been appointed Assistant Professor in Statistical Physics of Living Matter and Complex Systems at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Since April 2010 he is Associate Professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.
Natalya KatanayevaTeaching & PhD Courses Practical - Oricchio Lab BIO-603(O) Training in hemato-oncology. Analysis and genetic manipulation of hematopoietic progenitor cells.Morphological recognition of main hematopoietic lineages.
Hannes Markus PeterCurrent work
I am a microbial ecologist and mainly interested in factors shaping bacterial communities and functioning in freshwater ecosystems. I use combinations of field observations, experiments and molecular techniques to test hypotheses regarding the assembly of microbial communities, the influence of environmental variability and relationships between diversity and funcioning. I enjoy working in alpine environments, which are sensitive to climate change and represent excellent model systems.
Teaching
