| Erich Nigg | |
| Birth Date: | 28 November 1952 |
| Nationality: | Swiss |
| Field: | Cell Biologist |
| Work Institutions: | ETH Zurich, University of California, San Diego, Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, University of Geneva Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Biozentrum University of Basel |
Erich Nigg (born 28 November 1952[1] in Uster) is a Swiss cell biologist.
Erich Nigg received his PhD in 1980 from the ETH Zürich (Biochemistry). Subsequently, he carried out research at the University of California in San Diego, the ETH Zürich and the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC). From 1995 he was Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Geneva before he was appointed, in 1999, to a Directorship at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry[2] in Martinsried, Germany. From 2009 - 2018 was Erich Nigg Professor of Cell Biology and Director of the Biozentrum at the University of Basel, Switzerland.[3]
After early work on biological membranes, the structure of the cell nucleus and mechanisms of intracellular signal transduction, Erich Nigg's research focused on the cell cycle. His studies contribute to our understanding of the segregation of human chromosomes during cell division, the regulation of mitosis, as well as the structure and function of human centrosomes. This work is relevant to understanding diseases, because mitotic errors contribute to the genetic instability of cancer cells and centrosome abnormalities are known to cause disease (brain diseases and ciliopathies).