About the project

Christophe Dessimoz

As a child, I loved eating watermelons and marvelled that Nature had produced such delicious food. It’s only much later that I learned that wild watermelons are tough and bitter. I still love watermelons, but now I marvel at the awesome power of selective breeding—a kind of experimental evolution.

I loved my student life à l'ETH de Zurich. at ETH Zurich. I initially pursued a major in biotechnology because “technology” sounded cool. But with the emergence of the first few sequenced genomes and my long-standing interest for computers, it didn't take long for me to turn to bioinformatics!

Destiny is merely a coping strategy! But I feel very lucky to be working on this outreach project with fantastic collaborators.

To be a good scientist, it helps to be optimistic, resilient, and resourceful. But science is a collaborative endeavour and there are many different kinds of good scientists.

Natasha Glover

As a child, I liked science, especially when it came to plants. I planted some beans in the backyard and was amazed to see them grow.

I loved my student life at Virginia Tech in the US. I started by studying Crop and Soil Environmental Science so I could learn about agriculture, and then I studied Plant Genomics because I love genomes. When I moved to Europe, I decided to study bioinformatics because computers are the future!

Destiny? After the PhD, I moved to France to fulfil my childhood dreams of living abroad (which came from watching too many Disney movies). I studied the wheat genome at the French Research Institute for Agriculture, and then after a few years moved to Belgium to work at Bayer Crop Science. During that time, I started collaborating with Prof. Christophe Dessimoz at the University of Lausanne. Once I saw Lake Geneva I became hooked on Switzerland and the rest is history!

To be a good scientist, one must question everything and realize there’s still so much to learn.

Monique Zahn

As a child, I was fascinated by everything that happened around me. There were so many interesting things.

I loved my student life and my studies in chemistry and biochemistry at McMaster University in Canada. It allowed me to discover the molecules of life, to develop a computerized organic chemistry system and to meet very diverse people.

Destiny? I hesitated for a long time between studying science and French literature. After my post-doc, my job as Assistant Editor enabled me to use my interest in literature to communicate better about science.

To be a good scientist, one must be curious, perseverant - all the while questioning oneself - and work with mentors at the frontiers of science who push you to do better.

Marie-Claude Blatter

As a child, I loved asking questions… I needed to understand how things worked!

I loved my student life and my studies in biochemistry at the University of Geneva. Working on several courses at a time, being able to tell myself ‘yes, I think I have understood!'.

Destiny? Chance encounters are very important to one’s professional life: but one has to be ready to seize the opportunities that present themselves. After 10 years of doing basic research, I met by chance, at the Christmas market, Amos Bairoch, the creator of the UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot database. That’s how I got a start in the world of databases and bioinformatics! I consider I had a lot of luck to be able to access all this information, all these new technologies, and to tie together all I have learned... .

To be a good scientist, one must be curious, like to share with others, not take things too seriously, and above all never believe one knows everything!

Andries Hannaart

As a child, I liked computers, music, and being outdoors, like visiting nearby forests and eating the fruit that we were growing in our backyard. There was an assortment of berries, grapes and pears.

I loved my student life at the University of Applied Sciences in Leiden, The Netherlands. I studied Computer Science and did a minor in Multimedia and Design where I could use my passion for design and music.

Destiny? After my study, I had the chance to go abroad to Toronto, Canada where I worked at a tech startup and I was fortunate to work with some really talented people. Canada also has, like Switzerland, some amazing flora and fauna which was great to explore. After almost 7 years the opportunity came along to move to Switzerland where Prof. Christophe Dessimoz contacted me to help out with the graphic design for several of their projects. These projects are always insightful and lots of fun to work on.