With a strong expertise in the engineering and application of viral vectors for gene delivery to the central nervous system, Dr Bernard Schneider and his group explore how to translate fundamental discoveries of the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration into effective gene therapies.

Bernard Schneider obtained his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Lausanne in 2001, in the lab of Prof. Patrick Aebischer. He then joined the group of Prof. Clive Svendsen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he developed human stem cell-based models of neurodegeneration.

He joined EPFL in 2006, to explore how key genetic determinants of aging involved in the quality control of protein and organelles determine the fate of neurons in the context of Parkinson’s disease.

As Research and Teaching Associate at EPFL, he started working on motoneuron diseases, developing a gene therapy approach targeting mutated SOD1 by RNA interference, with a particular interest in the crosstalk between different cell types in this genetic form of ALS.

Another facet of his work at EPFL has been the development of AAV-based gene therapies against genetic forms of deafness.

Since 2017, he has been head of the Bertarelli Platform for Gene Therapy at EPFL, a lab dedicated to the development of vector technologies to address research needs and promote the development of gene therapies tackling neurological diseases.