2023

On 12 December, Petra Dittrich and her group invited the public to learn about  microchips and their great use for medical and diagnostic applications or for biological analyses. After a short introduction on the principles of ‘lab-on-a-chip’ technologies, the visitors to the fully booked tour saw some of the labs from inside and had the opportunity to discuss open questions with the young scientists.

Bethany Allen and Marina Nikolova, two postdoctoral researchers at D-BSSE, and their team members won the first place at herHack, Switzerland’s largest hackathon for women. Competing with 31 teams, their project involved developing a concept to help Migros, the Swiss retail company, provide customers with sustainability data on their grocery shopping. The jury liked best that the team chose to adapt an existing app, which meant that the solution was more sustainable than other teams’ proposals.

Upon application of the President of ETH Zürich, the ETH Board appointed Basile Wicky, currently Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Design at D-BSSE, starting this position in June 2024. Basile’s research focuses on computational protein design and synthetic biology for programming biomolecular and cellular systems.

By communicating with one another, cells collectively drive biological functions. The direct neighbourhood of a cell influences its behaviour, gene expression and the cellular crosstalk. The development of diseases is often the consequence of disrupted cell-cell communications. In a study published by Nature Communications, researchers from the Systems Physiology lab of Andreas Moor, developed a method to characterise microenvironments at single-cell resolution.

ETH spin-​off Engimmune Therapeutics, a D-BSSE start-up from the Reddy group, has developed technologies to engineer T-​cell receptors (TCRs) which are part of immune cells. Guided by machine learning, the technologies enable the development of TCR drugs that specifically target solid tumours. This emerging therapeutic approach is scalable and less costly than other modalities such as cell therapies.

On 28 November, the D-BSSE celebrated the successful moving into its new home BSS on campus Schällemätteli with a full-day retreat and party. Some 200 members started the day with Lightening Talks presented by research, administrative and technical groups. On the second half of the day, workshops on a large variety of topics were held, followed by a rally across the building. At the closing ceremony, the department head acknowledged the extraordinary efforts of every single D-BSSE member.

Pregnancy and motherhood lead to brain remodeling. Researchers at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, and the Systems Physiology Lab of Andreas Moor, have now discovered in experiments with mice that distinct pools of stem cells in the adult brain are turned on during pregnancy. They give rise to specific types of olfactory bulb neurons, the team reports in the journal Science.

Two senior scientists receive rapid funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation for their novel and unconventional research ideas: Davide Eletto and Yingjun Liu. Their projects were selected for SNF spark grants in a double-blind reviewing process. Congratulations!

On 12 December, at 6:15 PM, the public is invited to learn about microchips and their great use for medical and diagnostic applications or for biological analyses. After a short introduction by Professor Petra Dittrich you will go into the labs and discuss with young scientists their research and experimental set ups. Please register for this tour (in German)!

The ETH Golden Owl honours lecturers distinguished by exceptional teaching and motivates them to continue with their excellent teaching. The Owl is warded by ETH Zurich’s student association. This year, the Owl was awarded to Andreas Moor, Professor of Systems Physiology at D-BSSE. Congratulations!