Partnerships

The Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering maintains collaborative partnerships with a range of institutions and companies in the Basel area and beyond. Key academic partners in Basel include the University of Basel, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI), and the University Hospital Basel as well as the Children’s University Hospital Basel.

In addition to bilateral partnerships between D-BSSE research groups and groups at other institutions, many collaborations have formed with generous support as part of the Basel Personalised Medicine Initiative and the Basel Research Centre for Child Health.

The department’s increasing focus on translational medicine is reflected by Engineering Translational Medicine initiative which strengthens the close cooperation between the D-BSSE and the local hospitals and biomedical faculties. Working towards an efficient transfer of basic scientific discoveries into medical practice, the network aims to position the Basel region as a research hub for translational medicine. At the same time, findings and data from everyday clinical practice are made available for research and innovation.

Large research consortia also formed within the National Competence Centre for Research (NCCR) on Molecular Systems Engineering, led by ETH Zurich and the University of Basel, and the external page NCCR Antiresist, overseen by the University of Basel. Both NCCRs have deepened our understanding of biological systems at the molecular level, with the ultimate goal to guide rational design and programming of engineered systems that contribute to the great challenges in human health care and environmental sustainability.

D-BSSE also maintains close ties with regional chemical and pharmaceutical industry partners. The Next-Gen Bioengineers partnership between ETH Zurich and Roche, aims to advance the development of new methods that facilitate the search for medicines. With a focus on the development and application of cell- and gene-based human model systems as well as on research into new therapies, two dedicated research programmes target doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, respectively.