Dr. Richard Voellmy received his undergraduate degree and his PhD in Microbiology and Biochemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zuerich (ETH-Z). In 1975 he joined the laboratory of Dr. Alfred Goldberg at Harvard Medical School for postdoctoral studies on mechanisms of intracellular proteolysis of proteins, and in 1978 he moved to the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he conducted research on genes encoding heat shock or stress proteins under the guidance of Dr. Alfred Tissieres. In 1982, he joined the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology as an assistant professor. He was promoted to full professor in 1987. Since its establishment in 1982, Dr. Voellmy's laboratory has been focusing on understanding at the molecular level how mammalian cells respond to physical and chemical stresses. More recently, the laboratory has taken an active interest in applying its basic research findings to models of disease. Dr. Voellmy's work has been supported by numerous awards from the NIH, NIEHS, ACS and other agencies.