Professor Braun is a Professor Emeritus of General Microbiology at the University of Bern and currently a consultant in communication on biotechnology through BIO-LINK. He is also Chairman of the ‘Gen Suisse’ Foundation, Board Member of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS), member of the Swiss Society for Microbiology and member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). Prior to his retirement, Prof. Braun was Chairman of the Department of General Microbiology, and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Bern.