The end of the 20th century witnessed the beginnings of an ambitious project aiming at greater co-operation and development among the French-speaking universities of Lausanne, Geneva, and Neuchâtel, together with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Among others, this led to the transfer of the sections of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry from the University to the EPFL; the funds that were made available following this transfer were invested in the development of the life sciences at the University, including the creation of a Center for Integrative Genomics.