Marisa Jaconi, PhD holds since 2005 a faculty position as ”Maître d’Enseignement et Recherche” (MER, Principal investigator) at the Faculty of Medicine of the Geneva University (Switzerland). Within the Department of Pathology and immunology, she directs a research laboratory focusing on mouse and human embryonic stem cell (ESC)-based cardiogenic and tissue engineering strategies for the regeneration of the heart.
This includes the study of the genetic control of cardiac differentiation and plasticity potential of pluripotent stem cells as models of development and diseases. Being the first scientist to start working with hESC in Switzerland, she has been highly involved publically in the science/ethics/politics and society debates on embryonic stem cells that were at the origin of the Swiss Stem Cell Act, accepted by public vote in 2005.
The two main projects presently investigated in her laboratory involve 1) the study of cardiogenesis using human pluripotent stem cells as in vitro models of heart development and cardiovascular diseases, and 2) the study of human perivascular stem cells, the mesoangioblasts, derived from heart and skeletal muscle as cell sources of choice for studying 3D tissue generation, drug screening as well as muscle regeneration.
Since 2010, she is vice-director and founder of the Swiss Institute of Cell Therapies (SICT, www.swiss-ict.org), a foundation launched in 2010 by the Geneva University Hospitals and the Faculty of Medicine of the Geneva University. The SICT actively supports the development and clinical application of innovative cell therapies in Switzerland through public-private partnerships. It fosters the federation of Swiss teams operating in GMP-compliant clean rooms for the fast delivery of advanced medicinal products to the patients.
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