Dr. Anne Vassalli, Group Leader
Anne performed her PhD studies in the laboratory of Prof Rudi Jaenisch at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, USA, where she learned embryonic stem cell and gene targeting technology. She then moved to New York, USA, to perform Postdoctoral work at the Rockefeller University using genetic engineering to study Odorant Receptor gene choice and the mechanisms governing axonal pathfinding connecting olfactory sensory neurons in the periphery to glomerular cells in the brain olfactory bulb.
In 2007 she was awarded a SNSF Marie-Heim Vögtlin fellowship, allowing her to move to Lausanne and join the laboratory of Prof Mehdi Tafti, switching to the field of sleep/wake regulation, and associated disorders. She became Prof Tafti’s associate on several of his projects, while initiating her own line of research, using her experience in molecular genetics and gene engineering to create novel mouse models to study narcolepsy circuits and orexin/hypocretin receptor signaling, and study the hypothalamic control of brain states. In 2024 the group was awarded an Innosuisse innovation grant to promote new concepts in narcolepsy therapy, with a project entitled “Proof-of-concept of narcolepsy reversal by epigenetic therapy”.
Contacts: +41 (0) 692 55 40 anne.vassalli@unil.ch
Corinne Pfister, Lab Technician
Corinne obtained her MS in Microbiology from the University of Lausanne. She then joined the group of Prof. Bernard Rossier at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at UNIL as a lab technician. In 2004 she joined the Mehdi Tafti’s lab at the Center for Integrative Genomics.
Dr. Mojtaba Bandarabadi, Senior Researcher
Mojtaba received his PhD from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 2015, with focus on modelling the neurophysiological dynamics of epileptic brain during preictal and ictal events. During his PhD, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Minnesota (USA) for 6 months. He did a postdoc at the Department of Neurology, the Hospital University of Bern, and developed expertise and interests in system neuroscience focusing on the neural circuits and dynamics of sleep-wake cycle. Mojtaba joined Tafti’s group in February 2018 to pursue his research interests in the sleep field, and is currently working on the neural substrates of sleep-wake cycles and oscillations.
Dr. Giorgio Corsi, Postdoc
Focused research interests: vigilance states regulation by subcortical regions and sleep disorders
Education: PhD in Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, 2021
Bio: Giorgio received his BSc in Biology from University of Parma (Italy), where he worked at the Department of Neuroscience, studying the roles of visuo-motor neurons in macaque monkey premotor cortex using in vivo electrophysiological techniques. He then moved to Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) for the MSc in Neurobiology and then for the PhD in Neuroscience at Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. During the time spent at this institution, Giorgio focused his research on the roles of microglial cells, mainly in the regulation of sleep and sleep-associated synaptic plasticity in murine models, using electrophysiology, confocal microscopy, and molecular, cellular and behavioral techniques. After the doctoral graduation, Giorgio joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) as post-doctoral fellow to investigate the interplay between subcortical structures during vigilance states in a murine model of narcolepsy, using optogenetic and electrophysiological techniques.
Contacts: +41 (0) 692 55 54 giorgio.corsi@unil.ch
Dr. Meriem Haddar, Postdoc
Meriem obtained her Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D) in Ferhat Abbas University, Setif, in Algeria (2013). Then she worked for a pharmaceutical company for more than a year (Novapharm Trading). Later, she obtained the Japanese MEXT scholarship and moved to Japan for PhD studies in pharmacy (2015 to 2019). She joined the laboratory of Pharmaceutical Therapy and Neuropharmacology in the University of Toyama under the supervision of Prof. Atsumi Nitta. During her PhD, Meriem worked on methamphetamine addiction and cognitive function in mice. After graduation, Meriem stayed in the same lab as a foreign researcher until July 2020.
Dr. Ali Seifinejad, Senior Researcher
Ali earned his PhD in 2016 from the Center for Integrative Genomics at the University of Lausanne. Following this, he pursued postdoctoral research in the Department of Physiology at the University of Lausanne. During this period, his work centered on the neurobiology of specific neuronal subtypes, such as hypocretin (HCRT) and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons, and their roles in regulating brain vigilance states and neurological disorders like narcolepsy. Subsequently, Ali moved to Germany, where he spent nearly three years at the Institute for Neuropathology at the University Hospital in Freiburg im Breisgau. There, his research focused on neuroimmune interactions, specifically examining the interplay between brain-resident macrophages, the HCRT system, and sleep regulation. In 2023, Ali joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences as a senior scientist and research associate in Dr. A. Vassalli’s group. His current work involves preclinical research on narcolepsy with cataplexy. Throughout his career, Ali has made significant contributions to research on the HCRT system and narcolepsy. He has proposed innovative hypotheses, including the epigenetic regulation of the HCRT system in narcolepsy, and has utilized a broad array of techniques to achieve his research objectives. These include molecular biology methods (e.g., NGS, qPCR, shRNA, CRISPR-Cas9, viral vector construction), cellular biology techniques (e.g., iPSC technology, flow cytometry), electrophysiology (e.g., EEG, MEA), and advanced microscopy.