Swiss-Prot (Director : I. Xenarios) in Reflex

A protein encyclopedia

In 1986, University of Geneva professor Amos Bairoch created the Swiss-Prot database, an encyclopedia of proteins used by hundreds of thousands of scientists the world over. More than 30,000 people access it daily. “Our primary mission is to manually verify protein sequences from thousands of different organisms, and make available the biological information associated with them,” explains Marie-Claude Blatter,communications manager for the group.

Since 2003, Swiss-Prot (Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics) has been part of the UniProt consortium, together with the European Institute for Bioinformatics in the UK and the Protein Resource in the U.S. “We are trying to respond to a pressing research need: rapid access to high-quality data,” says Blatter. “It’s a fascinating if painstaking job.”

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B.Thorens “Innovative Medicines Initiative” project leader

B.Thorens is the leader of an IMI project on diabetes, a collaboration between 15 research groups from different european countries and 8 pharmaceutical industries.

Innovative Medicines Initiative”  is a unique partnership between the European Community and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

The aim of IMI is to to support the faster discovery and development of better medicines for patients and to enhance Europe’s competitiveness by ensuring that its biopharmaceutical sector remains a dynamic high-technology sector.

2 other swiss groups participate in this project on diabetes, one from the UNIGE and one from the SIB (I.Xenarios).