Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine

The Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine (Director, Prof. Matthias Hediger) is concerned with the structure, function and pharmacology of membrane proteins such as transporters, ion channels and membrane receptors. The main focus is on the biomedical aspects of these membrane proteins and their implications in human diseases.

The institute is composed of 8 research groups, as well as administration and technical services.

Specific focus areas:

• Role of ABC transporters in lipid disorders, placental physiology/pathology and mammary gland biology (Albrecht)
• Initiation of translation in eukaryotes; translation initiation factors (Altmann)
• Role of membrane lipids in African Sleeping Sickness, caused by T. brucei (Bütikofer)
• Functional genomics of nutrient transporters in T. brucei (Bütikofer, Sigel)
• Structure and supramolecular organization of membrane transport proteins (Fotiadis)
• Molecular pharmacology of the endocannabinoid system (Gertsch)
• Membrane transporter research and its application to the treatment of human diseases (Hediger)
• Structure and function of GABA(A) receptors and the benzodiazepine binding site (Sigel)
• Intestinal brush-border membrane proteases (Sterchi)
• Solute carrier gene database (SLC series) (Hediger)
• BioMedical Transporter Conferences (Hediger)

Universität Bern | Institut für Biochemie und Molekulare Medizin | Bühlstrasse 28 | CH-3012 Bern | +41 (0)31 631 41 11 | +41 (0)31 631 37 37