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.

IBMM is the Leading House of the National Center of Competence in Research, called “NCCR TransCure”, with Matthias A. Hediger as the director and Jean-Louis Reymond (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern) as the deputy director. The goal of the NCCR TransCure network is to apply excellence in membrane transporter research to the treatment of human diseases. For more information, please visit our website at www.transcure.org

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