Department of Cell Biology

The Department of Cell Biology is part of the University of Geneva / Faculty of Science / Section of Biology.

Congratulations to Dr. Ivana Gasic for receiving a SNSF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship, in which she proposes to study Tubulin Quantity Control and Microtubule Homeostasis. She will start her laboratory at the department in 2021.

Further details on this round of SNSF Eccellenza funding are available here.

Research Groups

Françoise Stutz - Director

We are interested in the effect of pervasive non-coding transcription on gene regulation and the replication initiation program. Another focus is the importance of nuclear organization in mRNA biogenesis and export through nuclear pores as well as the mechanisms underlying the resolution of DNA-protein cross-links deleterious to genome stability.

Sandra Citi

Our focus is the biology of vertebrate cell-cell junctions. Specifically, we study the structure and function of junctional proteins, the molecular mechanisms through which junctions are implicated in signalling to control cell and tissue behaviour, and their roles in physiology and disease.

Guichard / Hamel

The lab focuses on deciphering the structural mechanisms governing centriole assembly. To this end, we are combining the use of cell biology methods, in vitro reconstitution assays and state-of-the art imaging technologies to gain decisive insights into these mechanisms.

Ivana Gasic - SNSF Eccellenza (from 2021)

The lab challenges the central dogma postulating that regulation of gene expression and protein quantity is a unidirectional process. Our goal is to reveal how cells control protein quantity to ensure homeostasis. To address the functional aspects of protein quantity control.

Jean-Claude Martinou

Mitochondria play an essential role in cell homeostasis. Research in the lab is currently focused on two main areas: understanding the control of mitochondrial gene expression and investigating the pivotal role of pyruvate metabolism in neuronal activity and in carcinogenesis.

Didier Picard

We study the molecular mechanisms of signaling by the estrogen receptor α and their relevance to breast cancer, and the in vivo functions of the molecular matchmaker complex Hsp90 in mammalian cells, in the mouse and in the budding yeast.

Former groups

The Department of Cell Biology was created in 1990. You can find here the previous research groups that have contributed to the department's success.