The ETH Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) takes a truly interdisciplinary approach, combining biology, computer science, and engineering to improve our understanding of how living systems, such as cells and organisms, function.
By combining knowledge from several scientific fields, D-BSSE scientists are able to tackle complex biological problems. They use computer models to understand biological processes, build tools and methods to study and rebuild them, and run lab experiments that reveal how biological systems behave at molecular, cellular and organismal levels.
By working closely together under one roof, experts from different fields create innovative ways to explore life at the smallest level and apply these new insights to medicine, biotechnology, chemistry and beyond.
Although the boundaries between biology, engineering and computer science are becoming increasingly blurred as a result of interdisciplinary collaborations between groups, this unconventional combination of disciplines remains a key factor in the department's success.
