Biozentrum of the University of Basel

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Logo Biozentrum University of Basel
Biozentrum Basel

The Biozentrum is a department of the University of Basel . It is an interdisciplinary institute for molecular and biomedical basic research and teaching and comprises the departments a) Cell and Developmental Biology , b) Infection Biology , c) Neurobiology , d) Structural Biology and Biophysics, and e) Computational and Systems Biology . With more than 480 employees, the Biozentrum is the largest department in the Philosophical and Natural Sciences Faculty of the University of Basel. It houses 32 research groups with scientists from over 40 nations. The current director of the Biozentrum is Alexander F. Schier.

Assignments and history

The Biozentrum was founded in 1971 from the then innovative idea of ​​uniting the various biological and scientific disciplines under one roof. The interdisciplinary institute has a long list of scientific prizes , including the previous highlight, the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine , awarded to Werner Arber .

Since 2013, the cantons build Basel-Stadt and Basel-Land a new building, a 73-meter high life sciences building to a design by the Zurich architects Andreas Ilg and Marcel Santer on the Schällemätteli -Areal. The new Biozentrum tower should provide jobs for around 600 researchers and 800 students.

Employee

Currently 483 people work at the Biozentrum, more than half of them only stay a few years, including 109 postdocs, independent scientists or scholarship holders (1 - 5 years), 109 doctoral students (3 - 4 years) and around 40 new students every year Bachelor and master degree. Over 129 people work in building services and in the scientific and technical area, another 37 in administration. 32 professors lead research groups with up to 20 employees. Visiting scientists also regularly work at the Biozentrum, who stay at the institute for between 2 weeks and 1 year. The proportion of women is 44% - 32% of them work in research.

Teaching and training - studies at the Biozentrum

The special thing about the Biozentrum is that you can study biology at the University of Basel here in a research institute . So you are involved in an active, 'real' research environment right from the start and experience everyday life in research biology up close from the first day of your studies. In addition to theoretical knowledge, the students also learn to work out experimental methods and thus gain practical experience in active research. The training to become a research biologist comprises three stages:

1. Study : With the study concept Bachelor / Master (' Bologna-Modell ') the study time up to the diploma is approx. 4.5 years. The final year is a practical diploma thesis in a research group.

2. Doctorate : Further training requires working on your own project over a period of around 3 years. Every year around 25 doctoral students graduate from the Biozentrum as Dr. phil. nat. from. In addition, there are roughly the same number who - supervised by the Biozentrum - carry out their doctoral thesis at the Friedrich Miescher Institute , at the university hospital or in an industrial research laboratory. Since 2007 special scholarships have been awarded for the international PhD program Opportunities for Excellence at the Biozentrum, a program for particularly talented students as part of the promotion of excellence.

3. Post-doctorate : To broaden their knowledge and horizons, young researchers usually spend a few years in research groups abroad. Accordingly, many postdocs from other European countries and from overseas work in the Biozentrum.

Maurice E. Müller Institute for Structural Biology

The Maurice E. Müller Institute for Structural Biology was founded in 1986 by Ueli Aebi and Andreas Engel on the initiative of Eduard Kellenberger and with the help of the Maurice E. Müller Foundation . In 1996 it was integrated into the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. Ueli Aebi was its director until his retirement in 2012.

Biozentrum in numbers

Employees 2019

Total employees: 483
Professors: 32
Postdocs: 109
PhD students: 109
Scientific staff etc .: 36
Masters students: 30
Laboratory / technology: 130
Administration: 37

Annual accounts 2019

Total expenditure: CHF 63.8 million
University of Basel: 69.6%
Swiss National Science Foundation : 16.7%
Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics: 1.8%
EU / ERC grant: 2.9%
Other donors 9%

Well-known people

The following well-known people work or have worked at the Biozentrum:

Former department heads

From 1973 to 2009 the Biozentrum was headed by a chairman . It has been run by a director since 2009. The following people held this position.

1971-1973 no chairman
1973-1975 Max M. Burger
1975-1977 Max M. Burger
1977-1979 Jürgen Engel
1979-1981 Werner Arber
1981-1983 Werner Arber
1983-1985 Gottfried Schatz
1985-1987 Kasper Kirschner
1987-1989 Walter J. Gehring
1989-1991 Johan N. Jansonius
1991-1993 Thomas A. Bickle
1993-1995 Urs A. Meyer
1995-1997 Walter Keller
1997-1999 Joachim Seelig
1999-2000 Andreas Engel
2000-2009 Joachim Seelig
2009 - 2018 Erich Nigg
2018 - today Alexander F. Schier

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Biozentrum of the University of Basel unibas.ch. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  2. ↑ Basel top researcher returns from the USA to lead the Biozentrum bzbasel.ch. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  3. ↑ The origin and function of the Biozentrum unibas.ch. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  4. ↑ Werner Arber Facts nobelprize.org. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  5. ↑ Media release from June 19, 2013 ( Memento from September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 38 kB)
  6. ↑ Biozentrum receives a 73-meter research tower unibas.ch. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  7. ↑ Biozentrum in numbers
  8. ↑ A Lab with a View: American Postdocs Abroad , (German ' A Lab with a View: American Postdocs Abroad') lifescied.org. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Fellowships for Excellence
  10. ↑ End of a research era : Director of the Maurice E. Müller Institute said goodbye ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Costs of the Biozentrum

Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '49.4 "  N , 7 ° 34' 48.5"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred ten thousand six hundred fifty-one  /  268122