Olivier Staub received his diploma in Chemistry at the University of Bern, Switzerland (1987), and his PhD degree at the University of Lausanne (1992). He was trained as a postdoc at UCLA and at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, before joining the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the University of Lausanne as an independent researcher in 1997. Currently he holds the position of an Associate Professor. The research of Dr. Staub is focused on understanding how ubiquitylation and phosphorylation pathways control sodium and potassium homeostasis and consequently blood pressure. His major contributions concerns the discovery that the ubiquitin-protein ligase NEDD4-2 binds to and downregulates the epithelial Na channel ENaC, a mechanisms defective in Liddle’s syndrome. Subsequent work showed that this pathway is regulated either by controlling NEDD4-2 expression or by phosphorylation of NEDD4-2 by the aldosterone-induced SGK1 kinase. More recently, he developed tubule specific NEDD4-2 and SGK1 knockout mice, and these models illuminated novel roles for NEDD4-2 in the regulation of the thiazide-sensitive co-transporter, NCC, as well as the K-channels ROMK and BK. The laboratory of Dr. Staub applies multidisciplinary approaches that include state-of-the-art methods including biochemistry, molecular-, cellular and proteomics-systems biology, electrophysiology, combined with modern molecular physiology, taking advantage of sophisticated transgenic mouse models. Dr. Staub has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters that were cited more than 6000 times.

Appointments

University of Lausanne
Department of Biomedical Sciences