Prof Primo Schär is the Vice-Director of Research and professor in the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel. He obtained his PhD from the University of Bern and did his postdoctoral work at both the University of Bern and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK). Prior to joining the University of Basel, Prof Schär was a research group leader at the Institute of Molecular Cancer Research at the University of Zürich.

Prof Schär’s group investigates biological processes that modulate genome plasticity; i.e., the stability of the genetic and epigenetic codes of cell identity. Their objective is to provide a thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved and the consequences of their dysfunction for cell fate, transformation and cancer.