Rate My Professor Nicolas Winssinger

Nicolas Winssinger is a Full Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Geneva. He received his B.Sc. in chemistry from Tufts University. He completed his doctoral studies under the tutelage of Professor K.C. Nicolaou at The Scripps Research Institute. After his Ph.D., he remained at Scripps to work in the group of Professor P.G. Schultz as an NIH postdoctoral fellow. In 2002, he moved to the Institut de Science et Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) at Strasbourg University (formerly Université Louis Pasteur) as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2005. Shortly thereafter, he was elected to the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). In 2012, he moved to the University of Geneva, where he currently serves as Full Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry.

His research focuses on developing innovative methodologies in organic and bioorganic chemistry to address problems in biology. The Winssinger lab develops enabling chemical technologies to explore biology, with particular interest in the use of small molecules to probe dynamic processes in biological systems. This includes microarray-based tools to measure enzymatic activity, synthesis of libraries of inhibitors based on enzyme mechanisms or natural products, and imaging technologies to visualize biological events. An important theme is the use of unnatural nucleic acids (PNA) to program spatial organization and reactivity, with a long-term objective to extend these principles toward complex systems that emulate fundamental features of living systems. The lab also emphasizes bioactive small molecules that can modulate protein function, with a focus on biologically validated natural products.