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Annual Report 2006

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Annual Report 2006 M9 S 62 L 87 Utajärvi 6 M4 Rosenön, Stockholm Niagara Falls 6 8 4 M S Edimburgh S52 L 8 5 Z28 Z29 L 81 29 31 L65 S 46 37 35 J 39/40 4 L6 L79 J35 Z2 G 6 16 16 Warrenton 11 Saxton River 2 Boston 38 Athens/Vari N.Haven L 76 Tokyo N.Y. Chantilly S 55 Snowbird Rockville 40 Keystone Bethesda Rehovot Stanford Washington Z 24 San Diego Albuquerque La Jolla Indian Wells Dallas Alabama 1 S 9 4 7 Austin Houston Z 22 13 J36 Annual Report 17 Z 20 S 51 L 6 9 Z 2006 23 1 Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Istituto di Ricerca in Biomedicina HCMC 28 L 88 Z21 Armidale Melbourne M9 S 62 L 87 Utajärvi 6 M4 Rosenön, Stockholm Niagara Falls 6 8 4 M S Edimburgh S52 L 8 5 Z28 Z29 L 81 2 Foreword / Giorgio Noseda, President of the Foundation Council Table of Contents 4 Introduction / Professor Antonio Lanzavecchia, Director 6 Cultivating Discovery 29 8 Advancing Discovery 10 Teaching Discovery 31 6 L65 12 Focusing Discovery S 4 14 SHAPING PROTEINS / Protein Folding and Quality Control / Maurizio Molinari 37 35 J 39/40 16 SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION / Cell Migration Chemokine Receptors / Marcus Thelen 18 DEVELOPMENT / T Cell Development / Fabio Grassi L64 L 79 20 STEM CELLS / Haematopoiesis / Markus Manz J35 Z2 G 6 22 HIV-AIDS / Viral Replication, Pathogenesis and Immunity / Jeremy Luban 1 6 16 24 INFLAMMATION / Chemokine Activities / Mariagrazia Uguccioni 26 IMMUNITY / Cellular Immunology / Federica Sallusto 28 ANALYTIC VACCINOLOGY / Immune Regulation / Antonio Lanzavecchia Warrenton 11 32 Overview / Science at the Institute & Life in the Institute Saxton River 2 38 Athens/Vari 34 Multiplying Discovery Boston 36 • Education PhD Programme and PhD Students N.Haven L 76 Tokyo 39 • Lectures and seminars given by IRB Scientists in 2006 N.Y. 44 • Special PhD Lecture and Seminars Programme Chantilly S 55 Snowbird Rockville 40 46 Enabling Discovery 48 • The Institute Keystone Bethesda Rehovot 50 • Financial Data 2006 Stanford Z 24 Washington 52 Contributing Discovery 54 • Publications 2006 San Diego Albuquerque 56 Impressum La Jolla Indian Wells Dallas Alabama 1 S 9 4 7 Austin Houston Z 22 13 J36 17 Z 20 S 51 L 69 Z23 1 HCMC 28 L 88 Z21 Armidale Melbourne When we formed the Foundation for the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in 1997 our objective was to create the ideal conditions for the establishment of Professor a world-class research institute in Ticino. The overwhelming success of the IRB Giorgio Noseda, in its first six years attests to our having to accelerate this program. reached that ambitious goal. Scientific Since 2000 the institute has grown to President and academic productivity of the IRB 77 people; 8 group leaders, 21 research- of the Foundation are well documented in 159 publications ers, 33 students, 8 technicians and an and 17 PhD thesis granted to our stu- administrative staff of 7. This growth has Council dents. The growth of the annual budget put intense pressure on our lab space from 3.8 million Fr. in 2000 to more than and infrastructure. To ease this pressure, 11.3 million Fr. in 2006 is due to both in June of 2006 we expanded our facili- the trust demonstrated by our public ties through the transformation of a local and private sponsors as well as by the building into a state of the art laboratory increasing ability of our researchers to and animal facility. attract competitive grants. Joining the IRB as tenants in this new Preparing the ground for success is building will be Humabs, a young U.S. not the same as managing success based biotechnology company that has however. The year 2006 saw an impor- recently opened a swiss office in Ticino. tant strategic transition begin for the Humabs has licensed IRB technology, de- Foundation Council. No longer the “new veloped by Prof. Antonio Lanzavecchia, kid on the block”, the IRB now success- for the production of monoclonal anti- fully competes head to head with the bodies. The Foundation believes strongly leading research institutions worldwide. in the importance of academic and Remaining competitive at this level the industrial alliances to foster important Foundation and the Institute must offer and effective research programs without ideal conditions, which include solidity, compromising independence. predictability, management excellence, While the Foundation takes stock of as well as an increased involvement in the past six years we also look forward the academic landscape of Switzerland to with renewed enthusiasm to the chal- provide recognition of the excellence of lenges that lie ahead. We will transition our researchers. ourselves to be in the best position In 2006 we prepared our renewed possible to achieve our ambitions and requests to the Cantonal and Federal go- the ambitions of our scientists. vernments for increased future funding. We solidified our connections with Swiss Universities and in particular opened Giorgio Noseda, MD discussions with the Swiss polytechnic President Foundation Council institutes. In December of 2006 the IRB, together with the EPFL, the CHUV (University of Lausanne) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research formed the Swiss Institute for Vaccine Research. These four institutes will pursue a coordi- nated program for research on vaccines. Funds provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to individual research- ers will be matched by the Confederation Foreword 3 Manz and colleagues have shown that mice reconstituted with a human This report provides an overview of the hemato-lymphoid system can be suc- activity at the Institute for Research in cessfully infected with viruses that target The aim of the SVRI is to boost vaccine Biomedicine (IRB). human cells but normally do not infect research and development via creation In 2006 two research groups have animals. This work provides, for the first of common platforms and recruitment been recruited. Markus Manz, after time, a small animal model for long-last- of young talents. Effective collaborations completing ing HIV infection and is supported by the have been established with the Institute the qualification in hematology and on- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand of Oncology of Italian Swizerland (IOSI) cology at the University of Tubingen, has Challenges in Global Health program. in the field of transcriptional profiling Professor expanded his research program on stem The need to advance the study of the hu- and in the study of the effect of irra- cell biology, hematopoietic differentia- man immune system is illustrated by the diation on adoptive immunotherapy. Antonio Lanzavecchia, tion, and blood cell maligancies. Jeremy finding by Sallusto and colleagues that Markus Manz has taken clinical respon- Luban, on sabbatical from the Columbia the development of a particular type of sibilities at the IOSI, a move that is ex- Director of the University since 2005, has joined the in- inflammatory effector cells, called Th17, pected to facilitate translational research Institute for Research stitute as a group leader in August 2006. is differentially regulated in humans in the field of haemato-oncology. His research on the innate mechanisms as compared to mice. A very dynamic The urgent need to expand labora- in Biomedicine of resistance to HIV-1 will strengthen program stems from the development tory space, core facilities, and the animal the IRB program in this important field. of a proprietary method to clone human house has been partially met by the rapid In addition, his laboratory is undertak- memory B cells which has been licensed refurbishment of a new building called ing the challenging task of tracking viral to an american startup company, Hum- IRBis located a few hundred meters transport inside infected cells using a abs LLC, that is establishing its laborato- from the main site, and by establishing a novel microscopy approach. ries in Bellinzona. Using this proprietary cutting edge imaging facility, generously Scientists that have left the IRB in this method broadly neutralizing antibodies supported by private donations and the period have found positions in leading have been isolated against viruses such Confederation. We are grateful to the institutions in Switzerland, Germany, as SARS, Dengue, H5N1, Cytomegalo- City of Bellinzona for hosting us in these Italy, USA, Canada, UK, Japan and virus and HIV-1. These antibodies can two buildings and for sharing our vision Singapore. be used not only to confer immediate of the future. The IRB continues to play an impor- protection by passive administration to After six years of activity I am confi- tant role in education by training gradu- virus-exposed or infected individuals, but dent to say that the IRB has fulfilled the ate students through collaborations with also as tools to identify the antigens that initial expectations and has become an Swiss Universities, in particular Basel, elicit neutralizing antibodies, a proc- internationally visible centre for basic Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne and Zurich and ess that has been defined as “analytic and translational research. This fact is participates in an international PhD pro- vaccinology”. Another example of how witnessed by the success in obtaining gram with the Vita-Salute San Raffaele basic research can open new therapeutic grants not only from the Swiss National University in Milan, Italy. The students avenues comes from Molinari’s labora- Science Foundation and the European furthermore benefit from an intensive tory where they have shown in a model Union, but also from foreign agencies lecture series held by renowned scientist system that an antibody can inhibit the among which are the Bill & Melinda from all over the world, organized with formation of Alzheimer lesions in vivo. Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the generous support of the Gustav & The translational programs above and the US National Institute of Health.
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