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Department of Molecular Life Sciences
University of Zurich
Winterthurerstrasse 190
CH-8057 Zurich
Switzerland
Building / Room: Y13-K-11
Phone: +41 44 635 31 80
Ruxandra was born in Bucarest (Romania) and was fortunate to grow up in Geneva (Switzerland) after age 5. She studied medicine in Geneva, where she discovered her passion for embryology, development and genetics. After receiving her MD in 1998, she started a first residency in Pediatrics which she temporarily interrupted to discover research in 2001 during a two-year stay in Cecilia Moens’ lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, studying hindbrain development in zebrafish. After completing her Pediatrics residency in Geneva and receiving her first specialist title in 2007, she moved back to Seattle for a second residency, this time in medical genetics at the University of Washington. Her training included a fellowship during which she started her research career for good, co-mentored by Cecilia Moens and Dan Doherty, studying ciliopathies in the zebrafish model. After receiving her second specialty title in Medical Genetics, she was appointed acting assistant professor at the UW and Seattle Children's Hospital in 2011. In 2012, she returned to Switzerland, this time to Zurich, thanks to an SNSF Ambizione fellowship which allowed her to establish her research niche in the field of ciliopathies, combining human genetics and zebrafish models, with a special focus on the retinal aspect of ciliopathies. In 2017 she obtained an SNSF Professorship grant which allowed her to establish her own lab and to expand her research to the use of iPSC-derived models. Besides leading her research group, Ruxandra still sees patients for genetic diagnosis and counseling for inherited retinal and renal diseases.
When she is not in the lab (or the clinic), Ruxandra enjoys spending time with her husband, a professor in volcanology, and their three children, traveling the world (to climb volcanoes) and having fun outdoors.
Why did you choose to become a scientist?
The truth is that I could never entirely make up my mind between medicine and biology, so I decided to study medicine hoping it would allow me to do both. I have been fortunate (and lucky) enough to manage to make it work! I am passionate about understanding how organisms are formed and how genes are involved in shaping this process. Through my clinical work I can understand what matters to patients and try to translate that in my research – but I am also just fascinated to understand how things work for the sake of understanding the mysteries of Life!
What do you like about your work?
I love the variety of this job, being constantly challenged by new ideas, new problems to solve, new people and new topics. I hate to be bored and this defninitely never happens to me at work! Having started my career in genetics in 2008, I have witnessed an incredible revolution in the field of medical genetics as well as in the field of biology, where new technologies open unprecedented opportunities. This is an exciting time to be doing research in the Life Sciences!
What do you like about your work?
The opportunity to work on a topic that keeps fascinating me is a privilege. In addition, I like the diversity of my job, the collaboration with my team of young scientists, the exchange with colleagues, and the fact that I can learn new things all the time. The scientific process is rewarding: you come up with a hypothesis, you test it experimentally, and when your results confirm your hypothesis and you make progress, this is extremely motivating and makes you happy, because you have achieved something that you were working for.
What tips would you offer a young researcher who is considering an (academic) career?
The academic environment holds many challenges and frustrations, but it has one unique aspect that, in my opinion, is worth the effort: you have the possiblity to pursue your own interests and to shape your own path. So I would advise young researchers to follow their passion – which also means they have to define their goals and try to determine where they want to go. And then it is key to actually enjoy the road towards that goal on an everyday basis, and to remain flexible, being able to adapt to opportunities and readjust the goal. In the end, it is the journey that counts and not the destination in itself.
2023-current: Associate Professor for developmental genetics, URPP AdaBD Professorship
2017-2023: SNSF Assistant Professor
2013-2017: SNSF Ambizione Junior Group Leader, hosted in the laboratory of Stephan Neuhauss.
2011-2012: Acting Assistant Professor and attending physician in Medical Genetics, Seattle Children’s Hospital / University of Washington Department of Pediatrics.
2008 - 2011: Residency and Research Fellowship Medical Genetics, University of Washington, Seattle.
2004 - 2007: Residency and Fellowship Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland.
2001- 2003: Postdoctoral Research, lab of Dr Cecilia Moens, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle.
1998 – 2001: Residency Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland.
URPP AdaBD