Jacques Dubochet

After graduating from the University of Lausanne, he entered EPUL in 1962. He graduated as an engineering physicist in 1967. Passionate about biology, he took a certificat in molecular biology at the University of Geneva in 1969 to become a biophysicist.

Jacques Dubochet completed his thesis at the University of Geneva and the Biocentrum Bâle under the supervision of Professor Edouard Kellenberger, obtaining his doctorate in 1973. His career continued in Heidelberg, Germany, where from 1978 he held a position as Group Leader at the EMBL.

From 1987, he returned to the University of Lausanne, where he was appointed Professor in the Department of Ultrastructural Analysis and Director of the Electron Microscopy Centre. Between 1998 and 2002, he was Chairman of the Biology Section.

Author or co-author of numerous scientific articles published in prestigious journals, some of which appear on the cover, Jacques Dubochet has gained an international reputation in the field of electron microscopy.

His discovery, in 1980, of the vitrification of water observed in a low-temperature microscope led to the development of several methods used today in most major electron microscopy laboratories. Coupled with image analysis computer processing, these methods determine the three-dimensional structure of isolated particles such as macromolecules, viruses or even filaments in a very fine solution and in a hydrated and pre-served state.

Jacques Dubochet's team never stopped developing other techniques pursuing the structural exploration of biological matter. The CEMOVIS method, adopted by a European network of excellence, makes it possible to vitrifier tissues, biopsies or even entire cells to reveal their finest structural details.