Laurent Kaiser obtained his medical degree from the University of Geneva in 1987. He completed a full training in internal medicine and is board-certified in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology. He spent two years as Research Associate at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine since 2006, he is the Director of the Laboratory of Virology at University Hospitals of Geneva. In 2013, he was appointed Full Professor and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases.

research activities

Based within University Hospitals of Geneva, the Laboratory of Virology performs more than 140,000 diagnostic procedures annually. It runs a complete panel of virological tests adapted to a large university centre caring for immunocompromised patients and transplant recipients. The goal of the team is to integrate the activities of a routine laboratory with the latest clinical developments, new diagnostic assays, and basic research in the field of virology. The laboratory also integrates and provides technical support to two national reference centres funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. It conducts influenza surveillance in Switzerland,

including basic diagnostic capacities for unusual and rare viral diseases. Clinical virology research includes all viruses with a special emphasis on respiratory infections. The latter group aims to investigate the clinical impact and epidemiology of respiratory viruses by using appropriate molecular assays. In particular, investigations have focused on the impact of respiratory viruses in immunocompromised hosts and European or African children. Close collaboration with basic research group, allows the investigation of unusual clinical observations in the field of clinical virology and promotes translational projects. The group also conducts investigations in the field of general clinical virology.