Description of organisation
The University of Geneva is an institution devoted to research, teaching and dialogue. It is the site of academic creativity and the transmission of knowledge. Since its foundation the university has developed ever higher ethical standards and steadily increased in quality and the will to innovation. Today it is one of Europe's leading universities. The University also shares the international calling of its host city, Geneva, a centre of international and multicultural activities with a venerable cosmopolitan tradition. Its desire to expand its collaboration with partner institutions and broaden its appeal to researchers and students from around the world has made the University a "globalised university", a meeting place for academic disciplines and various cultures, and a forum for ideas.
Previous experience
University of Geneva is at the forefront of proteome research and related bioinformatics. Now that the human genome sequencing effort has almost been completed, human proteome studies are possible on a large scale. Therefore, their research effort is focusing on protein analysis tool developments and their clinical applications. The aim is using proteomic techniques such as one and two dimensional gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry and especially the molecular scanner to identify biochemical profiles and markers in multiple diseases.
Profile of staff members
Dr. Denis Hochstrasser is the chairman of the Genetic & Laboratory Medicine Department of the Geneva University Hospital and former Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland. He is also Head of the Laboratory Medicine Division of the Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland's largest acute hospital. He still practices as a Board certified physician. At the academic level, he is full Professor both to Geneva's Department of Structure Biology & Bioinformatics, Medicine Faculty and to the School of Pharmacy, Sciences Faculty. He was one of the founders of the Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, of the Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology and also of Biobank Swiss Foundation. He is a scientific founder of Geneva Proteomics Inc, Geneva Bioinformatics SA and of Eclosion SA. He is a board member of the CTI certification board for the Swiss Government and of Viollier laboratories. His research focus on the discovery of clinical biomarkers in brain, pancreas and kidney diseases, in human toxicology and the development of proteomic & clinical chemistry related technologies such as clinical mass spectrometry. Dr. Alexander Scherl is responsible for bioanalytics, in particular high resolution mass spectrometry and proteomics. He will be involved in the consortium research project and coordinate the activities with the partners. The University of Geneva collaborates closely with Prof. Ioannis Xenarios from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. The SIB will provide access to functional annotation of protein functions, molecular interactions, ontologies and pathways.
Webpage
Recent publications relevant to the project
1. Geiser L, Vaezzadeh AR, Deshusses JM, Hochstrasser DF. Shotgun proteomics: a qualitative approach applying isoelectric focusing on immobilized pH gradient and LC-MS/MS. Methods Mol Biol. 2011;681:449-58.
2. Fetaud-Lapierre V, Pastor CM, Farina A, Hochstrasser DF, Frossard JL, Lescuyer P. Proteomic analysis of heat shock-induced protection in acute pancreatitis. J Proteome Res. 2010 Nov 5;9(11):5929-42. Epub 2010 Sep 23.
3. Lescuyer P, Farina A, Hochstrasser DF. Proteomics in clinical chemistry: will it be long? Trends Biotechnol. 2010 May;28(5):225-9. Epub 2010 Mar 30.
4. Dayon L, Turck N, Kienle S, Schulz-Knappe P, Hochstrasser DF, Scherl A, Sanchez JC. Isobaric tagging-based selection and quantitation of cerebrospinal fluid tryptic peptides with reporter calibration curves. Anal Chem. 2010 Feb 1;82(3):848-58.
5. Mylonas R, Mauron Y, Masselot A, Binz PA, Budin N, Fathi M, Viette V, Hochstrasser DF, Lisacek F. X-Rank: a robust algorithm for small molecule identification using tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 2009 Sep 15;81(18):7604-10.
