Connective tissue

Johan Auwerx is Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he occupies the Nestle Chair in Energy Metabolism. Dr. Auwerx has been using molecular physiology and systems genetics to understand metabolism in health, aging and disease. Much of his work focused on understanding how diet, exercise and hormones control metabolism through changing the expression of genes by altering the activity of transcription factors and their associated cofactors. His work was instrumental for the development of agonists of nuclear receptors - a particular class of transcription factors - into drugs, which now are used to treat high blood lipid levels, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Auwerx was amongst the first to recognize that transcriptional cofactors, which fine-tune the activity of transcription factors, act as energy sensors/effectors that influence metabolic homeostasis. His research validated these cofactors as novel targets to treat metabolic diseases, and spurred the clinical use of natural compounds, such as resveratrol, as modulators of these cofactor pathways. Johan Auwerx was elected as a member of EMBO in 2003 and is the recipient of a dozen of international scientific prizes, including the Danone International Nutrition Award, the Oskar Minkowski Prize, and the Morgagni Gold Medal. His work is highly cited by his peers with a h-factor of over 100. He is an editorial board member of several journals, including Cell Metabolism, Molecular Systems Biology, The EMBO Journal, Journal of Cell Biology, Cell, and Science. Dr. Auwerx co-founded a handful of biotech companies, including Carex, PhytoDia, and most recently Mitobridge, and has served on several scientific advisory boards. Dr. Auwerx received both his MD and PhD in Molecular Endocrinology at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. He was a post-doctoral research fellow in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics of the University of Washington in Seattle.

2012-2013 Visiting Professor, Standford University. Stanford School of Medicine 2011- Associate Professor of Life Sciences-Brain Mind Institute-EPFL Dir. Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Neurodegeneration 2005-2011 Assistant Professor of Life Sciences-Brain Mind Institute-EPFL Dir. Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Neuroproteomics 2005-2008 Director- EPFL Proteomic Core Facility 2002-2004 Instructor of Neurology- Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital 2001-2002 Sabbatical Fellow- Laboratory for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration Harvard Medical School, 2001-2002 Post-doctoral Fellow- Center for Neurologic Diseases Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital Advisor- Prof. Peter T. Lansbury 2000-2001 Research Scientist, The Picower Institute for Medical Research, Great Neck New York 1994-2000 PhD Student; Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research Institute Advisor- Prof. Jeffery W. Kelly 1990-1994 B.S. City University of New York, Brooklyn College Dr. Hilal A. Lashuel received his B.Sc. degree in chemistry from the City University of New York in 1994 and completed his doctoral studies at Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research Institute in 2000. After obtaining his doctoral degree, he became a research fellow at the Picower Institute for Medical Research in Long Island New York. In 2001, he moved to Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital as a research fellow in the Center for Neurologic Diseases and was later promoted to an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School. During his tenure (2001-2004) at Harvard Medical School his work focused on understanding the mechanisms of protein misfolding and fibrillogenesis and the role of these processes in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. In 2005 Dr. Lashuel moved Switzerland to join the Brain Mind Institute at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne as a tenure-track assistant professor in neurosciences. Currently, Dr. Lashuel is an associate professor of life sciences and the director of the laboratory of molecular and chemical biology of neurodegeneration. (http://lashuel-lab.epfl.ch/). Research efforts in the Lashuel’s laboratory focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and developing novel strategies to diagnose and treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Research in the Lashuel lab is funded by several international funding agencies and foundations, including the Swiss National Science Foundation, European FP7 program (Marie Curie and ERC grants), Human Science Frontiers, Strauss Foundation, Cure the Huntington’s disease foundation and Michael J Fox foundation and is supported by collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies (http://lashuel-lab.epfl.ch/page-50538-en.html), Nestle, Merck-Serono, AC Immune and Johnson and Johnson. Dr. Lashuel’s research has resulted in the characterization of novel quaternary structure intermediates on the amyloid pathway, identification of potential therapeutic targets, and new hypotheses concerning the mechanisms of pathogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. Dr. Lashuel scientific contribution to this field includes i) more than100 publications in major peer reviewed journals including Nature journals, Cell, PNAS, JBC, J. Neuroscience JACS, and Angewandtie Chemie; ii) three patents on novel strategies for preventing protein aggregation and treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; iii) more than 150 invited lectures since 2002 and more than 5500 citations (7800 citation-Google Scholar) since 1996. Dr. Lashuel has received several pre-doctoral and post-doctoral awards and fellowships and was the recipient of two prestigious awards given to young investigators; Human Science Frontiers young investigator research award and the European Research Council (ERC) starting independent researcher grant and the ERC proof of concept award (2013) These awards provide more than $2.5 Million to Dr. Lashuel to translate some of his ideas and projects into novel strategies for diagnosing and treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Lashuel has chaired and co-organized several international conferences and serves as an academic editor for PLoS ONE, an associate editor for frontiers of molecular neuroscience, member of the Editorial advisory board of ChemBioChem and ad hoc reviewer for several international scientific journals and funding agencies.

Education MTE, Managing the Technology Enterprise Program (2000), IMD, Lausanne Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering & Engineering Mechanics (1990) Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. MS in Biomedical Engineering (1987) Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (1985) National Technical University of Athens. Professional Activities 2002 - present: Professor and director of LHTC 2010 - present: Founder and director of Rheon Medical SA, Préverenges, Switzerland 2008 - present: Founder and director of Antlia S.A., PSE-C, EPFL campus, Switzerland 1998 - 2007: Founder and Scientific Director of EndoArt S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland 1996 - 2002: Assistant professor at the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland. 1991 - 1996: Research Associate at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne 1990 - 1991: Lecturer, Iowa State University

Pierre J. Magistretti is an internationally-recognized neuroscientist who has made significant contributions in the field of brain energy metabolism. His group has discovered some of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the coupling between neuronal activity and energy consumption by the brain. This work has considerable ramifications for the understanding of the origin of the signals detected with the current functional brain imaging techniques used in neurological and psychiatric research (see for example Magistretti et al, Science, 283: 496 – 497, 1999). He is the author of over 100 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He has given over 80 invited lectures at international meetings or at universities in Europe and North America, including the 2000 Talairach Lecture at the “Functional Mapping of the Human Brain Conference”. In November 2000 he has been a “Mc Donnel Visiting Scholar” at Washington University School of Medicine. Pierre J. Magistretti is the President-Elect (2002 – 2004) of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) which has a membership of over 15000 European neuroscientists. He has been first president of the Swiss Society for Neuroscience (1997-1999) and the first Chairman of the Department of Neurosciences of the University of Lausanne (1996 – 1998). Pierre J. Magistretti is Professor of Physiology (since 1988) at the University of Lausanne Medical School. He has been Vice-Dean of the University of Lausanne Medical School from 1996 to 2000. Pierre Magistretti, is Director of the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL and Director of the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience of the University of Lausanne and CHUV. He is also Director of the NCCR SYNAPSY "the synaptic bases of mental diseases". POSITIONS AND HONORS MAIN POSITION HELD • 1988-2004 Professor of Physiology, University of Lausanne Medical School • 1996-2000 Vice-Dean for Preclinical Departments, University of Lausanne Medical School • 2001-2004 Chairman, Department of Physiology, University of Lausanne Medical School • 2004-present Professor and Director, Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, University of Lausanne Medical School and Hospitals (UNIL-CHUV) (Joint appointment with EPFL) • 2005-2008 Professor and Co-Director, Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne (Joint appointment with UNIL-CHUV) • 2007-present Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of Centre d’Imagerie Biomédicale (CIBM), an Imaging Consortium of the Universities, University Hospitals of Lausanne and Geneva and of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne • 2008-present Professor and Director, Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne Joint appointment with UNIL-CHUV) • 2010-present Director, National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) “The synaptic bases of mental diseases” of the Swiss National Science Foundation • 2010-present Secretary General, International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) MAIN HONORS AND AWARDS • 1997 Recipient of the Theodore-Ott Prize of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences • 2001 Elected Member of Academia Europaea • 2001 Elected Member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, ad personam • 2002 Recipient of the Emil Kraepelin Guest Professorship, Max Planck Institute für Psychiatry, Münich • 2006 Elected Professor at Collège de France, Paris, International Chair 2007-2008 • 2009 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic Scholarship, Canadian Psychological Association • 2011 Camillo Golgi Medal Award, Golgi Fondation • 2011 Elected Member of the American College of NeuroPsychopharmacology (ACNP)