New Assistant Professor of Oral Implantology

The insertion of dental implants in the jawbone is a popular treatment that is being continuously developed. The University of Basel and the University Center for Dental Medicine Basel are reinforcing this area with the appointment of Professor Anne Géraldine Guex as assistant professor of oral implantology.

Géraldine Guex studied nanosciences at the University of Basel and received her doctorate from the University of Bern in 2012 with a dissertation on the use of nanofibers in muscle repair. From 2013 she worked first as a postdoc and later as a researcher at Empa in St. Gallen. She also completed a two-year research stay as an SNSF grant holder at Imperial College in London during this time, and since 2020 has been a research scientist at the AO Research Institute in Davos. She will take up the role of assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine (without tenure track) on 1 April 2023.

Broad-based in terms of content and methodology, Guex’s research covers biomaterials, tissue engineering, stem cell differentiation, bone biology, electrospinning and acoustic bioprinting. These innovative technologies and overlapping research areas make it possible to produce multicellular functional tissue constructs in the laboratory with a view to investigating and improving the subsequent interaction of implants with the body.

The Straumann assistant professorship of oral implantology will be based at the University Center for Dental Medicine Basel (UZB). In addition to providing training for students, the scientific focus of the role will be on translational research, which involves transferring new findings into clinical practice. At the same time, the new professorship will expand and promote interdisciplinary exchange with existing research groups at the UZB.

Second Straumann professorship

Basel entrepreneur Dr. Thomas Straumann will be funding the five-year assistant professorship with a total of 2.5 million Swiss francs. Straumann is the founder and a member of the Board of Directors of the world’s largest manufacturer of dental implants, Straumann Holding AG, of which he was previously CEO and Chairman. He is also founder and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the implant manufacturer Medartis AG in Basel.

In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel for his services to medical technology. In the first endowed professorship established in 2006, he promoted research into the application of novel materials in clinical practice for a ten-year period.

Further information

• University of Basel: Reto Caluori, Head of Communications, tel. +41 61 207 24 95, email: reto.caluori@unibas.ch
• University Center for Dental Medicine Basel: Gerlinde Spitzl, CEO, tel. +41 61 267 28 94, email: gerlinde.spitzl@uzb.ch