09

The ETH Board appointed Konrad Tiefenbacher, currently Tenure Track Assistant Professor at the D-BSSE and University of Basel, as Associate Professor of Synthesis of Functional Modules (dual professorship with the University of Basel). Konrad's research in the field of self-assembled catalytically active molecular capsules grapples with a very challenging supramolecular topic at the interface between organic chemistry and biochemistry.

Every cell has a story to tell. New technologies to sequence RNA and DNA from individual cells are providing unprecedented insights into the biology of complex tissues. In addition, it is now possible to grow human tissues in the lab that recapitulate human organ development. This is what the new D-BSSE lab on Quantitative Developmental Biology headed by Professor Barbara Treutlein is working on: it applies novel quantitative single-cell technologies to understand development and regeneration.

On invitation of ETH's Vice President for Research and Corporate Relations, Swiss Federal Councillor, Dr. Alain Berset, as well as the Ministers of Health from the German-speaking neighbouring countries gathered at ETH Zurich for presentations of current projects in the healthcare field. D-BSSE pioneer fellow Steven Schmitt presented SpheroBiotics which harnesses the power of nature's microbiomes with high-throughput technology to fight antibiotic resistance.

Maintaining perfect stability through negative feedback is a basic element of electrical circuitry, but it’s been a mystery how cells could do it - until the Control Theory and Systems Biology Lab headed by D-BSSE Professor Mustafa Khammash found the answer.

Currently, drug-developers searching for new therapeutic antibodies use time-consuming, experimental screening processes that can take years to develop candidates ready for clinical trial. DeepCDR's co-founders Derek Mason, Simon Friedensohn, André Mercanzini and D-BSSE professor Sai Reddy combine gene editing, deep sequencing and deep learning to radically accelerate the therapeutic antibody discovery process.

On 7 September, Sophie Herzog, doctoral student in the group of Daniel Müller, participated in the prestigious 2019 Ironman World Championship in Nice, France. The race included a 1.9km swimming race, a 90km bike course and a 21km run. She finished the race after 5 hours 24 minutes – on a rented bike!

Today, a new cohort of students commenced their studies in the two D-BSSE Master's degree programmes: 28 students in Biotechnology and 32 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.

Future admission arrangements for the ETH master’s programme, the composition of the ETH Zurich Research Commission for the next few years (with D-BSSE Professor Timm Schroeder as a new member), and new uses for the space under the dome of the ETH main building: these were some of the most important items on the agenda for recent meetings of the Executive Board.

The Korean engineer has specialized in engineering tissues and other bio-materials. In the Biophysics group of Daniel Müller, the postdoctoral researcher will work on cell adhesion properties which play a crucial role in physiology and pathology. Seungkuk Ahn is eager to visit the FC Basel stadium and to learn about how best to raise kids in Basel.

Memo Therapeutics announced today that it is entering pre-clinical development of its first drug candidate, a virus-neutralising antibody against polyomavirus type BK, isolated from humans for the treatment of BK virus-infection after kidney transplantation. The 2012-founded company originating from the Bioprocess group of Professor Sven Panke works in the field of antibody discovery and immune repertoire analysis.