Studies on the Class II Transactivator in Dendritic Cells

Thèse
présentée à la Faculté des sciences de l'Université de Genève
pour obtenir le grade de Docteur ès Sciences,

mention biologique

par

Salomé LANDMANN

(de Bâle / Suisse)

sous la direction du
Pr Didier Trono

et du
Dr Walter Reith

et du
Pr David Shore

Jury :
Pr Antonio Lanzavecchia

Thèse n° Méd. 3413

Genève, 2002

I am particularly grateful to Walter Reith, who has given me the opportunity to work in his group on an exciting project and in a stimulating scientific environment.

I would like to thank as well Professor Didier Trono and Professors Antonio Lanzavecchia and David Shore for having accepted to become co-director or members of the jury, respectively.

I am greatly indebted to Annick Mühlethaler-Mottet who initiated me to the world of CIITA and its promoters and to numerous techniques in molecular biology. I also want to thank Luca Bernasconi, Tobias Suter and Jean-François Arrighi for collaborations outside of the CMU. And of course I am very grateful to all the current and past members of the laboratory who have contributed to a scientific and friendly environment: Madeleine Zufferey, Emmanuèle Barras, Marie Peretti, Michal Krawczyk, Jean-Marc Waldburger, Frank Matheux, Stéphane Rey, Krzysztof Masternak, Jean Villard, Catherine Cherbuliez, Isabelle Vieille-Grosjean, Nicolas Peyraud and Dominique Baas.

Last but not least I would like to thank my family and my friends for their continuous support during this thesis. Special thanks go to Philipp who has encouraged me in good and in bad times and who has undertaken the enormous effort to join me here in Geneva.