The University of Lausanne is a higher teaching and research institution composed of seven faculties where approximately 15,600 students and about 3,900 research, teaching et technical staff.
Its research activities focus on three main themes: human and social sciences, life sciences and medicine, and environmental sciences.
UNIL lays great store by the quality and innovation of its teaching. This is characterised by a highly interdisciplinary approach which is even reflected in the organisation of its faculties.

Faculty of Biology and Medicine

The research and teaching of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine cover three distinct disciplines that share the same interest in living beings, thus offering three complementary approaches and cultures. Biology studies nature in all its forms and focuses its academic activity on fundamental research. Medicine and Nursing Science focus on human beings in their entirety, whether in good health or suffering physically or mentally. Their activities are oriented towards care for the sick and clinical research.

Teaching in these three fields offers many opportunities for inter-disciplinary collaboration. Holders of a BSc in Biology interested in human biology and the biology of diseases now have the possibility of studying these areas with a medical orientation as part of a Master’s degree. Conversely, holders of a Master of Medicine degree interested in fundamental research can develop their knowledge of the fundamental disciplines of biology by studying for a PhD in Medicine and Sciences (MD-PhD). Finally, the pre-graduate “Bridging” programme gives you the opportunity to study for a university Master’s in medicine after a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD in biology or life sciences engineering. If you hold a nursing diploma, you have the opportunity to consolidate your learning and become an expert in care via a Master’s in Nursing Sciences. If you hold a Bachelor’s in occupational therapy, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, midwifery or medical radiology techniques, you have the option to expand and further your skills via a Master’s in Health Sciences in your specific field.

At the Doctoral School, responsible for third cycle studies, biologists and physicians have collaborated closely for many years. Many doctoral theses in Life Sciences are prepared in the basic or medical research laboratories. Thus, medical research benefits from the technical skills and medical platforms developed by fundamental biology, but the flow is bi-directional.

These synergies now extend to Nursing Science, since UNIL became the second university in the French-speaking world to offer a doctorate in this field back in 2008.

Department of Biochemistry

• Innate Immunity [ group Broz ]
• Squamous/skin cancer prevention [ group Dotto ]
• Leishmania Virulence Factors [ group Fasel ]
• Stromal Cells in Lymphoid Tissues [ group Luther ]
• ER Stress [ group Martinon ]
• Membrane Fusion and Vesicle Fusion [ group Mayer ]
• Immune Responses, Autoimmunity and Immunometabolism [group Rebsamen]
• TNF family members: BAFF, APRIL, EDA [ group Schneider ]
• L. major specific immune response [ group Tacchini-Cottier ]
• Lymphocyte activation [ group Thome-Miazza ]