Basel Metropolitan Area
Drug developer with 10+ years of research experience in academia and industry. I am deeply passionate about researching medically relevant biological processes to develop novel drugs that improve human health. I have used proteomics, light microscopy, human genetics, mechanistic modeling and data science to gain unique new insights into pathological and pharmacological processes. I have tested concepts in humans or preclinical models by developing and measuring clinical bio markers. At Idorsia, I am the Biomarker Lead on several projects and lead a group that develops and applies molecular biomarkers, Omics (proteomics, single-cell RNASeq etc.) and data science to advance new molecules in drug discovery, preclinical and clinical development. All expressed views are my own.
- Leading a group of Scientists and Scientific Associates responsible for biomarkers (protein, RNASeq, digital biomarkers) and Omics (proteomics, transcriptomics) in preclinical and clinical development - Biomarker Lead responsible for the biomarker strategy and implementing the biomarker plan - Core member and company representative in the European Bioanalysis Forum (EBF) Publications: van de Merbel et al., Bioanalysis 2025 Wilson et al., Bioanalysis 2025 Iglarz et al., Hypertension 2024 Blattmann et al., Hypertension 2024 Cowan et al., Bioanalysis 2024
Biomarker Lead in various drug development projects. Leading a team developing, implementing and measuring biomarkers using LC-MS, ligand binding assays or flow cytometry. Publications: Marchesin et al., Science Advances 2024 Blattmann et al., Clinical and Translational Science 2024 Barfield et al., Bioanalysis 2023 Sieber et al., JCI Insights 2022
Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, Aebersold group Employing state-of-the-art quantitative proteomic approaches (mainly SWATH-MS / DIA) to characterize complex cellular processes of high clinical relevance. In Blattmann et al. 2017, we employed a systems pharmacology approach combining mass spectrometry-based proteomics, metabolomics, and mechanistic modeling to analyze the cell-line-specific effect of drugs targeting cholesterol regulation (e.g. statins). Furthermore, I developed data analysis workflows, programmed R packages, and generated resources to advance MS-based proteomics. Publications: Buljan et al. Nature Methods, 2023, Bühler et al. Neurooncology 2023, Plattner et al. IScience 2023, Blattmann and Aebersold, Encyclopedia of Cell Biology, 2022 Aebersold and Blattmann, Chimia, 2019, Zhu et al. Mol Oncol, 2019, Celis-Gutierrez, Blattmann, Zhai et al. Cell Reports, 2019, Blattmann, Stutz, et al. Scientific Data, 2019, Sajic et al. Cell Reports, 2018, Buljan et al. Molecular Systems Biology, 2018, Blattmann et al., Cell Systems, 2017 Blattmann et al., PLoS One, 2016 Blattmann and Aebersold, Encyclopedia of Cell Biology, 2016 Williams et al., Science, 2016 Kusebauch et al., Cell, 2016
Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, Pepperkok group
Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) and Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit (CBB), Pepperkok and Runz group I combined siRNA-mediated knockdown of genes with high-content fluorescence microscopy to assess the effect that knockdown of these genes has on functional assays assessing LDL-uptake and cellular cholesterol distribution. In Blattmann et al. we profiled 133 candidate genes encoded in blood lipid genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify and characterize novel genes with cholesterol-regulatory function. Quantitative data was extracted from the fluorescent images using an automated image-analysis pipeline combining CellProfiler and R. Publications: Zimon et al. Nature Communications, 2020 Blattmann et al., Plos Genetics, 2013 Iskar et al., Molecular Systems Biology, 2013 Thormaehlen et al. Plos Genetics, 2015
Research Oncology, Mellman group Characterize with FACS and fluorescence confocal microscopy the effect of virus infection on the ability of cross-presentation of primary human dendritic cells. Smed-Sörensen et al., PLoS Pathogens, 2012