University of Zurich

University of Zurich

University of Zurich
Winterthurerstrasse 190
CH-8057
Zurich
Switzerland

www.uzh.ch/index_en.html

Project Leader

Prof. Olivier Devuyst

Prof. Olivier Devuyst
Leader of WP4

Phone: +41 44 635 5071 or 5082
Fax: +41 44 635 6814
Contact

Project Staff

Dr. Carsten Wagner

Prof. Dr. med. Carsten Wagner

Phone: +41 44 63 55023
Fax: +41 44 63 56814

Contact

Institute Presentation

The University of Zurich is the largest university of Switzerland and is ranked among the top 10 universities in Europe. The Institute of Physiology currently hosts 13 independent research groups with over 100 scientists. For decades the institute has been one of the European centers for kidney research, with a major focus on epithelial transport and identification of patients with distinct transport disorders. The Division of Nephrology at the University Hospital Zurich covers all aspects of modern nephrology including Switzerland’s largest transplant program and a lively outpatient clinic for inherited renal diseases and acquired glomerulopathies. The science laboratory of the division is placed at the Institute of Physiology.

The institute hosts a fully equipped rodent phenotyping facility, comprehensive animal housing and is integrated in different local, national and international research consortia such as the Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP) and the National Centre of Competence in Research Kidney - control of homeostasis (NCCR Kidney.CH). Specific rooms are provided for comprehensive biobanking including the European Renal cDNA Bank (ERCB).

Olivier Devuyst is a physician-scientist, board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology, with a track record in the study of mechanisms underlying kidney tubular disorders. These studies are based on the use of mouse and human genetics, and multiple mouse and cellular models studied by a combination of morphological, biochemical, molecular and cell physiology techniques. Olivier Devuyst has been awarded several international prizes for his research and he belongs to the boards of various international journals and renal foundations. He coordinates the European Network for the Study of Orphan Nephropathies (EUNEFRON, FP7) and is the President of the Working Group on Inherited Kidney Disorders of the ERA-EDTA.

Carsten Wagner is a physiologist with a major interest in the function and regulation of epithelial transport processes involved in acid-base and phosphate homeostasis. The studies use a variety of techniques including numerous genetically modified mouse lines, in vitro microperfusion of nephron segments, and proteomic and genomic approaches. He is member of several editorial boards and has received the Franz-Volhard Award of the German Nephrological Society and the Pfizer Award for basic research in Nephrology.

Beside fully equipped facilities for molecular and integrative physiology and epithelial transport biology the institute is well known for its advanced phenotyping of rodent models, complex parametric analysis and sorting, as well as advanced imaging studies and high-throughput biochemical profiling. Biobanks within the institute cover dozens of specific specimen from hundreds of different transgenic animals. It also houses the European Renal cDNA bank, a unique tissue bank for transcriptomic analyses of human renal biopsies.

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