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Today it is possible to test drugs or study complex biological mechanisms on three-dimensional micro-tissues that closely resemble parts of natural organs. In their research, Elise Aeby, Patrick M. Misun and Olivier Frey from the Bio-Engineering Lab of Andreas Hierlemann study micro-tissues of colon cancer in hanging hydrogel drops on a micro-fluidic chip, monitoring tissues’ growth and cell death, and human liver tissues that were exposed to cytochalasin D, a cell-invading toxin.

On 13 June, Dr Christiane Gras from BRAIN's Taste Cell Technology will talk about their way to measure natural responses to food ingredients. Furthermore, she will elucidate its potential to develop new taste modulators and functional food ingredients for the nutritional industry. Please register!

The Indian specialist in gene therapy from the Laboratory of Biological Engingeering of Professor Platt is working on genome engineering in cancer immunotherapy. She is excited to have her first Swiss fondue experience soon.

An overview of attention for the article by Tastanova from the group of Martin Fussenegger and colleagues, which was published in Science Translational Medicine on 18 April 2018 (see ETH news item: Artificial mole as an early warning sign) resulted in more than 80 news stories on over 70 media outlets - an extraordinary attention score!

Cells synthesize mRNA molecules as a first step in expressing proteins. This fundamental process, called transcription, is difficult to probe directly or to visualize. Scientists from the D-BSSE research group of Mustafa Khammash developed a novel technique to do just that: they used blue light which is split up by micromirrors to directly activate gene transcription and to visualize and quantify the resulting mRNA in live yeast cells.

A reportage on Professor Fussenegger's research highlights the functioning of digital pills. These pills can help tackling metabolic diseases such as obesity or diabetes by measuring blood sugar level or insulin concentration and effectively stimulating the regeneration of cells. Listen to the radio broadcast 'Echo der Zeit' (in German).

The Iranian researcher from the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Group of Professor Martin Fussenegger works on engineered cells from mammals, which are used in different applications in therapeutics such as metabolic diseases.

Arne Wehling, a PhD student in the Cell Systems Dynamics Group headed by Professor Schroeder has been chosen as one of the 75 international innovators who will participate in the 2018 Merck Innovation Cup in July this year. Arne will further develop his idea of using metabolically engineered microorganisms to turn plastic waste into precious chemical compounds. Congratulations!

Student representatives from the Bio- and Pharmazentrum, the Friedrich Miescher Institute, and ETH Zurich's D-BSSE are organising the 2nd All Institutes Career Event on 24th May, 5 - 8 PM, at FMI, with the aim to strengthen the Basel life science community. Register for the event before 21st May.

The Academic Association of Scientific Staff (AVETH) conducted a survey amongst ETH doctoral students last fall. The results were made available today. While ETH Zurich doctoral students are generally rather satisfied with the supervision they receive from professors, a number of deficiencies also became clear. The supervision is now set to be optimised.