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Signaling molecules called morphogens guide the formation of patterns in tissues. Their concentration forms gradients along the tissue to determine cell fate. How this mechanism can be robust towards biological noise and what the role of cell size is in pattern formation has long remained unclear. Using mathematical modelling, Jan Adelmann from the Computational Biology group of Dagmar Iber, shed new light on these two key aspects of developmental biology in his Master’s thesis.

On 26 May, the Graduation Ceremony was held as the very first event in our new home in Basel. 22 Biotechnology and 18 Computational Biology & Bioinformatics graduates attended the celebration together with their family and friends, in total some 170 guests, enjoying the sneak peek into the new building and filling the atrium with their laughters and smiles. Huge congrats to our graduates and best of success for a bright future!

Moving from mouse studies to stem-cell research, the Spanish postdoc will focus on the electrophysiological mechanisms of autism-spectrum disorders at the Bio Engineering Lab of Andreas Hierlemann. After many years in the field of neuroscience in the Netherlands, María moved to Switzerland to gain more experience in the field of electrophysiology and discover the Helvetic country.

Every day, millions of cells die in our body. Other than generally assumed, cells do not simply burst at the end of their lives but rather, a specific protein serves as a breaking point for cell membrane rupture. Researchers led by Sebastian Hiller at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, in collaboration with D-BSSE group leader Daniel Müller have now been able to elucidate the exact mechanism at the atomic level.

Sarah Nadeau from Tanja Stadler’s group and Joaquin Gutierrez from the lab of Mustafa Khammash receive the ETH medal for their excellent doctoral theses on advancing pathogen phylogenies for public health and developing a fully automated platform for co-culturing bacterial communities, respectively. Big congrats!

Researchers from Basel and Zurich are creating a high-​resolution atlas that depicts the development of the human retina. One technique they use is a new method that allows them to visualise more than 50 proteins simultaneously.

The ETH Facility Services department and its team located at D-BSSE provide an exciting glimpse at our new home in Basel. Their report not only guides members of the D-BSSE community through the technical and operational details of BSS but also describes the many services they offer.

As one of 435 entries submitted to the 2023 SNSF Scientific Image Competition, the video of Roman Vetter was awarded the jury distinction. This stunning videos simulates tissue growth of a malignant tumour growing from a single cell to a million cells. Congratulations, Roman!