Mission statement

A multidisciplinary approach is being used by UPCOL to tackle major public health problems such as tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy. The unit comprises experts in genomics, functional genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, chemistry and structural biology. Using genome biology as a platform we are actively involved in discovering new drugs to treat TB and believe that knowledge gained through discovery must be broadly and swiftly disseminated. Given the global importance of the TB problem, we are trying to strike the correct balance between competition and collaboration. In addition to numerous collaborations in the context of the EPFL and the framework of NM4TB, we are also collaborating with other leading European and American scientists such as Professor Pedro Alzari, Professor Patrick Brennan, Dr. Roland Brosch and Dr. Christophe Guilhot.

News

19.03.2009 Excellent prospects for a new drug to fight the Tuberculosis pandemic and combat XDR-TB
New Medicines for Tuberculosis (NM4TB) Press release
Benzothiazinones Kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Blocking Arabinan Synthesis Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (Abstract - Full text)

21.10.2008 Stewart Cole and Iain Old attended the 2nd Symposium on Global Health Diplomacy - Negotiating Health in the 21st. Century - Analysing the Power shift in Global Health at National and Global Level organized by the Graduate Institute Geneva. During his welcome speech, Pascal Couchepin, President of the Swiss Federation, stated: "The Swiss Institute of Technology at Lausanne, the EPFL, recently created a Global Health Institute. In this new Institute, 50 researchers work on various issues, including those related to Tuberculosis, Malaria, or how to use specific medical equipment in the developing countries context."

The complete speech can be viewed here. 

9.07.2007 Stewart Cole receives a grant from the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique in order to construct an Integrated regulatory map of the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

 

19.09.2007 EPFL's Global Health Institute receives grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

01.09.2007 Stewart Cole has officially taken over as Director of the Global Health Institute.Thank you to Gisou van der Goot for taking the responsability ad-interim of the Institute since its creation.

21.05.2007 Stewart Cole joins fellowship of the Royal Society

14.12.2006 Stewart Cole - A Pioneer in Tuberculosis and Leprosy Genomes