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“We share enormous potentials on the Campus Schällemätteli”
The Biozentrum just moved into its new building and, a stone’s throw away, the ETH Zurich’s Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) is finalising its new research and teaching facility, next door to the University Children’s Hospital Basel and the University Hospital Basel. Daniel Müller, Head of the D-BSSE, is looking forward to collaborating with the new neighbours on the Schällemätteli campus.
Promising new method speeds up discovery of antimicrobial compounds
Combating the ever-growing challenges of antimicrobial resistance, researchers from the Bioanalytics group of Petra Dittrich in collaboration with members of Sven Panke’s Bioprocess lab developed a new microfluidic method that facilitates the generation and screening of antimicrobial peptides. They present their novel tool in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Landing therapeutic genes safely in the human genome
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and ETH Zurich’s Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering predict and validate genomic safe harbor sites for therapeutic genes, enabling safer, more efficient, and predictable gene and cell therapies.
Tracking different cell types in human brain organoids
Stem-cell derived organoids have become a promising model for studying human organ development and modelling diseases. In an earlier study, researchers from the Quantitative Developmental Biology lab led by Barbara Treutlein and colleagues showed how different cell types emerge in human cerebral organoids. They now present a new method that shows how cells transition from their pluripotent state to form multiple cell types and regions and hence, directly measures lineage relationships.
Welcome to our new HR manager Cornelia Käppeli
Cornelia has been with ETH Zurich for almost four years as team leader of the HR section Consulting Services for Departments. Having worked both in the private sector and in the public sector, she has profound experience and expertise in all areas of HR management. In the future she will be regularly on site at D-BSSE in Basel and will be your contact person for all HR-related topics. In the meantime you can reach Cornelia via zoom and e-mail.
AI offers a fast way to predict antibiotic resistance
Researchers from the Machine Learning and Computational Biology Lab led by Karsten Borgwardt and their colleagues from the University Hospital Basel have shown that computer algorithms can predict antimicrobial resistance of bacteria faster than previous methods for resistance phenotyping. This could help treat serious infections more efficiently in the future.
First female president in the history of the University Assembly
From early 2022, Dagmar Iber, Professor of Computational Biology at the Department of Biosystems in Basel, will take over the presidency of the University Assembly from Werner Wegscheider. In the following interview, they offer an insight into the work of ETH Zurich’s most important representative committee.
D-BSSE spinoff Memo Therapeutics to clinically develop SARS-CoV-2 antibody
Memo Therapeutics AG announced the receipt of CHF 10.5 million from the Swiss Federal Funding Programme for COVID-19 Medicines to clinically develop COVAB 36, a potent, fully-human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Phase 1 of the clinical studies is expected to start in early 2022. Memo Therapeutics, a 2012-funded spinoff company originating from the Panke lab, is an innovator in the field of antibody discovery and development.