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The Canadian chemist in the Bioanalytics Group of Professor Dittrich develops new tools for studying bacterial toxins and screenings for innovative therapies to combat bacterial infection. His expectations to live out scientific curiosity in the interdisciplinary environment at D-BSSE are certainly met. What he did not expect was the amazing reactions when using “Grüetzi”. And that he will eat cake nearly every day.

Gene sequences contain the construction plans for proteins. The control of gene expression is an essential tool in biology and biotechnology. In a recent study by Gabriele Lillacci and D-BSSE professors Yaakov Benenson and Mustafa Khammash, a novel family of synthetically designed control systems for gene expressions are presented. The study was published in Nucleic Acids Research.

The spreading of the HI-Virus depends on the network within which the HIV-infected individual is likely to have sexual contacts. A new method developed by researchers in the group of Professor Tanja Stadler on the basis of the statistical programme R allows to find clusters of HIV patients within such unknown contact networks. Accurate identification of these clusters is essential to effectively target public health interventions.

Today, the University of Basel and ETH Zurich co-founded the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) in Basel. They bring together top scientists and clinical researchers from a variety of disciplines in order to develop new methods and digital innovations for global use in paediatrics. The BRCCH is funded by a CHF 100 million contribution from Fondation Botnar in Basel.

Today, a new cohort of students commenced their studies in the two D-BSSE Master's degree programmes: 24 students in Biotechnology and 34 students in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. During the first week, the students receive a warm welcome by the ETH Rector, all the D-BSSE professors and various student associations. Part of the programme are also safety instructions and information on research integrity as well as social events in the evenings.

14-year old Lara Lenz from a secondary school in the canton Basel Landschaft joined for four days the Computational Biology Group of Niko Beerenwinkel. She is eager to learn about DNA sequencing and phylogenetic trees. Using real data sets Lara is being introduced to the technique of sequence-alignment and determining evolutionary relationships. 

MaxWell Biosystems AG, a spinoff originating from the Bio Engineering Laboratory headed by Andreas Hierlemann, was awarded rank 22 out of 100 in the Swiss Top 100 Startup Competition 2018. Founded in 2016, the company was one of the top five biotech companies.

Today ETH Zurich celebrated the laying of the foundation stone for its new building on the Schällemätteli campus in Basel. As from 2022, all the research groups at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering will be united under one roof, in close proximity to important partners.

BioVersys, an ETH spin-off company founded by Marc Gitzinger, former PhD student in the D-BSSE group headed by Martin Fussenegger, is a bio-pharmaceutical company that focuses on research and development of small molecules which switch off bacterial resistance against existing antibiotics. Marc’s research is one of two approaches to fight antibiotic resistance presented by Nano and broadcasted by 3Sat on 3 September (in German, time code 10:25).

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the Swiss economy. The latest issue of the ETH Globe magazine features projects that SMEs have completed in collaboration with ETH Zurich. An astonishing number of SMEs came out of ETH Zurich: marketable innovations in research often form the starting point of spin-offs. During the last decade, no less than 10 companies were founded by members of the D-BSSE. Read the September issue of the Globe magazine.