The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) is a
biomedical research institute founded in 1970. Based in
Basel, Switzerland, the FMI is affiliated with the
University of Basel and the
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). It is named after
Friedrich Miescher. As of 2021[update], the FMI has around 340 collaborators, of which 20 are research group leaders, over 80 are postdoctoral collaborators and over 80 are postgraduate students participating in the FMI International PhD Program. The FMI is directed by
Dirk Schübeler.
The FMI is member of EU-LIFE, an alliance of leading life sciences research centres in Europe.[1]
Scientific activities
The FMI is devoted to the pursuit of fundamental biomedical research. Areas of research are
neurobiology, genome regulation, and multicellular systems.
Publication of two protocols for plant transgenesis, which were widely used in the 1980s.[4][5]
Discovery that the gene for the
human growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB2) is amplified in around 25% of primary breast tumors and dissection of its role in the pathogenesis and prognosis of breast cancer.[6]
Discovery of the key signaling kinase
PKB (Akt) and demonstration of its central role in cancer cell signaling.[7]
The FMI is an affiliated institute of the
University of Basel.[14] It provides biomedical research and career training for its 80–100 PhD students at a time. FMI selects its highly international student body during a twice-yearly interview-based selection program.[15] Most FMI group leaders have adjunct or full professorships at the
University of Basel in the Natural Sciences Faculty. In particular, the FMI participates actively in the teaching program of the
Biozentrum of the University of Basel.
The FMI also offers training in biomedical research to postdoctoral fellows. It was designated by a survey of The Scientist in 2012, as the "best place for postdoctoral training" outside of the US.[16][17]
Patents and translational implementation
A goal of the FMI is the patenting of its discoveries and implementation of its basic research into pharmaceutical development.[18]
History
The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research is named after the Basel scientist
Friedrich Miescher who discovered nucleic acids in the mid-19th century.
The FMI was founded in 1970, a hundred years after Miescher's discovery, as a collaborative effort of two Basel-based pharmaceutical companies, Ciba Aktiengesellschaft and J. R. Geigy Ltd.[19] The founding charter describes the aims of the institute as to "pursue and promote basic research in the fields of biochemistry and medicine..." and "...to provide young scientists from all over the world with an opportunity to participate in scientific research."[20] The Founding Director was Professor Hubert Bloch (died 1974) who had been Director of Research at Ciba Aktiengesellschaft, and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Basel. He was an expert in tuberculosis[21][22] and was also instrumental in the founding of the
Institut Suisse pour les Recherches Experimentales sur la Cancer (ISREC), Epalinges, Switzerland. Between 1997 and 2012, the FMI was part of the Novartis Research Foundation.[23] Since 2012 the FMI is an independent foundation.[24]
Directors
List of the successive directors of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research:
1970–1974: Hubert Bloch
1974–1974: Denis Monard
1974–1976: Matthys Staehelin
1976–1981: co-directorship of four-member Executive Committee
The Friedrich Miescher Award is Switzerland's highest honor for up-and-coming biochemical researchers. The award is granted every year by the Swiss Society for Biochemistry[25] to the best scientific contribution in this field. Prize winners must be under 40 and must either be Swiss citizens or have conducted the prize-winning research in this country. The award was instituted in 1970, proposed and donated by the FMI. It is named after the Basel scientist who discovered DNA,
Friedrich Miescher.
^Grimsley N, Hohn T, Davies JW, Hohn B (1987). "Transformation of maize plants by Agrobacterium tumefaciens". Nature. 325 (6100): 177–179.
doi:
10.1038/325177a0.
S2CID4271725.
^Berger MS, Locher GW, Saurer S, Gullick WJ, Waterfield MD, Groner B, Hynes NE (March 1988). "Correlation of c-erbB-2 gene amplification and protein expression in human breast carcinoma with nodal status and nuclear grading". Cancer Research. 48 (5): 1238–1243.
ISSN0008-5472.
PMID2893663.
^Cross DA, Alessi DR, Cohen P, Andjelkovich M, Hemmings BA (December 1995). "Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 by insulin mediated by protein kinase B.". Nature. 378 (6559): 785–789.
doi:
10.1038/378785a0.
PMID8524413.
S2CID4285651.
^Ludin B, Doll T, Meili R, Kaech S, Matus A (1996). "Application of novel vectors for GFP-tagging of proteins to study microtubule-associated proteins". Gene. 173 (1 Spec No): 107–111.
doi:
10.1016/0378-1119(95)00899-3.
PMID8707048.
^Weber M, Davies JJ, Wittig D, Oakeley EJ, Haase M, Lam WL, Schübeler D (August 2005). "Chromosome-wide and promoter-specific analyses identify sites of differential DNA methylation in normal and transformed human cells". Nature Genetics. 37 (8): 853–862.
doi:
10.1038/ng1598.
PMID16007088.
S2CID14505320.
^Bloch H. (1960). "Biochemical properties of virulent and avirulent strains of mycobacterium-tuberculosis". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 88 (5): 1075–1086.
doi:
10.1111/j.1749-6632.1960.tb20097.x.
S2CID84470553.
^King, Patrick J. “FMI – 40 Years On”, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel.
ISBN978-3-033-02820-3