Researcher profile

Charna Dibner

Dr. Charna Dibner is a Full Professor and the Head of Laboratory of the Translational Chronobiology and Chronomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Dibner completed her PhD in Medical Sciences in the Department of Biochemistry at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, headed by Nobel Laureate Professor Avram Hershko. She conducted her postdoctoral studies in the Department of Molecular Biology at University of Geneva, with Professor Ueli Schibler, worldwide leading expert in mammalian circadian rhythms. During her postdoctoral research, which was granted with a competitive postdoctoral fellowship by Roche Research Foundation (RRF) and received RRF award, Dr. Dibner has developed a solid expertise in the studies of molecular mechanisms of the mammalian circadian oscillators. In 2009, Dr. Dibner was appointed as a Group Leader of the Laboratory of Circadian Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva. The research in Dr. Dibner’s lab focuses on unravelling the molecular and functional interplay between the network of circadian oscillators and mammalian physiology. The research by Dr. Dibner’s team in advanced genetic mouse models led to the discovery of cell-specific properties of α- and β-cell oscillators, and their impact on pancreatic islet function and β-cell regeneration. Furthermore, Dr. Dibner seeks to explore the clock dis-regulation upon metabolic diseases and cancer in human individuals, in a tight collaboration with the clinical teams of Departments of Surgery, Medicine, Oncology, and Pathology in HUG. The group has developed state-of-the-art approaches for continuous recording of molecular clocks from single cell to whole-body levels in genetic rodent models, along with unique methodology for studying circadian oscillators and their functional outputs in human primary cells and tissue explants. Multi-disciplinary translational research conducted by the Dibner group elucidated the implication of circadian clockwork disruption in the pathophysiology of human metabolic diseases and cancer. Furthermore, in collaboration with leading national and international teams, Dr. Dibner seeks to implement the findings stemming from her research work into the clinics, to promote the chrono medicine concept. The research in the Dibner lab has been funded by Swiss National Science Foundation, European Foundation of Studies of Diabetes (EFSD), Swiss Cancer League, ISREC Foundation, Leenaards Foundation, Velux Foundation, and many more competitive grants and awards. At present, the international team led by Dr. Dibner keeps developing basic, translational and clinical research that focuses on implication of molecular circadian oscillators in physiology and in diseases (https://www.unige.ch/medecine/chiru/en/research-groups/charna-dibner/).