Heavy-flavour production in ALICE at the LHC

Results from proton-proton collisions at s=2.76 and 7 TeV, and from Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV are presented. The measurements in pp collisions provide an important test of perturbative QCD predictions. The precise vertex reconstruction together with the electron identification, allows the separation of the charm and the beauty components. Furthermore, the pp results are essential as a reference for the measurements in heavy-ion collisions. Nuclear modification factors were measured for D mesons, for electrons and for muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays. The elliptic flow of D mesons is also discussed. These measurements are important because they will provide information on the Quark-Gluon Plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions, via the energy loss of the heavy partons in the strongly interacting medium, and hints on the medium thermalization.