Bernhard Wehrle-Haller, Group Leader, University of Geneva

Bernhard Wehrle-Haller received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Basel, Switzerland in 1992, analyzing neurite growth and glial cell adhesion on the extracellular matrix protein tenascin under the supervision of Professor Matthias Chiquet. He then joined the labs of Professor James A. Weston at the University of Oregon, USA and subsequently Professor Beat A. Imhof at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, analyzing growth factor and integrin mediated melanocyte migration and adhesion. In 1998 he published the first functional fusion of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) with the cytoskeletal protein actin, and in 2001 with integrins, boosting the analysis of cell migration and adhesion, by live cell imaging. Since 2005 he is an independent group leader at the University of Geneva, applying structure function approaches and live cell imaging to reveal dynamic integrin/adapter protein interactions and receptor tyrosine kinase activation during cell adhesion and migration.