ETH News

Taking place for the first time at Cybathlon 2024 is the Assistance Robot Race, with ETH  represented by Team RSL. When paraplegic pilot Sammy Kunz navigates the course, a four-legged robot will be at his side. 

For those with a conventional leg prosthesis, climbing stairs and negotiating uneven terrain are almost insurmountable obstacles. But drawing on ETH expertise, Team Ottobock.X3 has now designed an intelligent prosthesis that helps its wearer move about more freely.

This year’s Cybathlon introduces a new discipline, the Vision Assistance Race. Lining up to go is Team SightGuide – a joint venture between UZH, ZHAW and ETH.

Research areas at ETH Zurich span barriers in a wide variety of fields, including cell biology, drug delivery and spatial planning. Below, we look at examples from six different disciplines.

From 25 to 27 October, the third Cybathlon will take place in the Swiss Arena in Kloten, Switzerland. This is the world’s largest competition in which people with disabilities master everyday tasks with the help of newly developed assistive technologies. For this Cybathlon, the six existing disciplines were further developed, and two new ones added: a race with intelligent vision assistive technologies and one with assistant robots.

How to bring a diagnostic process that has endured for 100 years into the digital age? Two researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich are developing a robotic platform that enables a more accurate diagnosis of cancer cells by rapidly quantifying tissue samples in their entirety.

Stimulating the brain with gentle sounds during deep sleep significantly enhances cardiac function, according to a new study. This discovery could have implications not only for cardiovascular diseases but also for competitive sports, among other areas.

A research team from ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI together with the Baden Cantonal Hospital and the University Hospital Zurich wants to improve a method for diagnosing breast cancer.  

Kantonsspital Baden (KSB) and ETH Zurich have been working together since 2017, mainly in teaching initially, but increasingly in clinical research. Now three ETH professors are moving into new premises on the hospital’s healthcare campus. Together, they want to make findings from basic research available for the benefit of patients.

For minimally invasive surgery, the instruments used must be small. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a method to transport large devices through a narrow catheter. This expands the possibilities for designing minimally invasive surgical tools.

ETH Zurich is boosting its medical research and establishing a new site in Schlieren. It is leasing a new building (SSA) right next to the Bio-Technopark in Schlieren; the site is currently being set up as a laboratory building for medical research.

Up to now, the use of models to research the barrier that separates the circulatory from the nervous system has proven to be either limited or extremely complicated. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a more realistic model that can also be used to better explore new treatments for brain tumours.

A needle and some blood are usually needed for medical diagnostics.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich are taking magnetic resonance imaging a step further. With their new method, they can visualise metabolic processes in the body. Their objective is to improve the future diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

Autonomous virtual humans that move and behave naturally are Siyu Tang’s vision. One area from which the computer scientist draws inspiration are our behavioural patterns. Collaboration with architects and surgeons provides further input – and it also reveals the enormous potential of virtual people.

ETH Zurich biologist Daniel Richter has developed a method that enables proteins to be linked to a drug molecule or biomarker with a high level of stability. He plans to use this method in the future to identify tumour cells and open the door to more effective cancer drugs.

ETH Zurich researchers have developed a model that explains how nerve cells in the brain connect during development. Their model reveals that the crucial factor is progressive cell division. This process leads naturally to the formation of molecular addresses that lets neurons navigate.

ETH spin-off Nanoflex has developed a magnetically steerable catheter for quick and safe stroke treatment that no longer requires surgeons to be on site.

ETH researchers found that in mice, long-lived embryonic macrophages in the lungs die upon aging and during infection and are replaced by inflammatory bone marrow-derived macrophages. This causes severe disease progression when infected with viral flu.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable textile exomuscle that serves as an extra layer of muscles. They aim to use it to increase the upper body strength and endurance of people with restricted mobility.

A new study shows that breast cancer metastases form more efficiently while patients are sleeping. This finding, in a study led by researchers at ETH Zur-ich, could significantly change the way cancer is diagnosed and treated in future.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute have created a risk map showing which regions in Africa may see a faster spread of infectious diseases due to lacking infrastructure.

The multidisciplinary Zurich research team Liver4Life has succeeded in doing something during a treatment attempt that had never been achieved in the history of medicine until now: it treated an originally damaged human liver in a machine for three days outside of a body and then implanted the recovered organ into a cancer patient. One year later, the patient is doing well.

Nature is not a ‘nice to have’ – it’s our life support system. Dwindling biodiversity endangers the very foundation of our existence. A turnaround is possible, but only if we all want it, says Christoph Küffer.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss is one of the major private donors for Swiss science. Today, Wyss was celebrated as the laureate of the 2022 Gallatin Award of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce.

Bacteria show great promise as a source of active ingredients. Using computer-based genome analysis, researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered a new class of natural products that might one day serve as antibiotics.

ETH researchers have used computer simulations to show that tissue structure in different types of cancer is decisive in determining how a tumour develops. This information could make it possible to treat patients in a more targeted manner in future.

Step-by-step researchers at ETH Zurich are working towards reducing the global impact of cancer. In recognition of World Cancer Day - a day dedicated to the promotion of research for curing and preventing the disease, we share a collection of recent research insights. #WorldCancerDay #CloseTheCareGap

Green tea is seen as healthy and promotes a longer life supposedly due to its high level of antioxidants. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now cast doubt on previous assumptions about how these ingredients work.

From genetics and personalised medicine to health insurance and climate change: at ETH Week 2021, 120 students from all degree programmes and from 31 countries grappled with the topic of “Health for Tomorrow”.

Rea Lehner has been running the “Future Health Technologies” research programme at the Singapore-ETH Centre since 2020. Together with her team, the ETH researcher is working on the principles of how healthcare can be changed through digital technologies.

Albert Einstein was a student and a professor at ETH Zurich. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his Nobel Prize in Physics. But how much ETH was there really in Einstein? And how much Einstein is there in ETH?

Cognitive motor training helps in the fight against Alzheimer’s and dementia, as demonstrated for the first time in a study by an international team of researchers with ETH Zurich involvement. The training platform used was developed by an ETH Zurich spin-off.

On 13 and 14 November 2020, some 60 teams from all over the world will compete at CYBATHLON 2020. It’s the high point that pilot Stefan Poth has been waiting for – postponed by months due to the pandemic. At last, he can show what he can achieve when wearing a leg prosthesis.

For his doctoral thesis, Jonathan Kiefer manufactured antibodies that help the body’s own immune system to defend against leukaemia cells. With a Pioneer Fellowship from ETH Zurich, he now plans to make his dream a reality: further develop the molecules – and bring the therapy to market.

Various contact-tracing apps are currently being developed worldwide to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is much discussion about how to implement digital contact tracing in accordance with data protection.

The two technical universities in the ETH Domain are launching a new initiative, “helpfulETH”. Its goal is to provide solutions for hospitals and other healthcare bodies to help them deal with the acute problems presented by the coronavirus epidemic.

The Professor of Exercise and Health advises: Stay active and exercise!

Scientists have developed a very small magnetic steerable catheter for minimally invasive surgery. Thanks to its variable stiffness, surgeons can perform more complex movements inside the body with a lower risk of injury to the patient.

In April, a special bed developed at ETH Zurich – the Somnomat – was used in a study with children suffering from sleep-related rhythmic movement disorder. The children came all the way from the UK as part of an international collaboration.

New research findings from biology and chemistry are a blessing for the world of medicine. However, if they are misused for military purposes, they can reveal a darker side. How to deal with the “dual-use dilemma”? This was the subject of a course aimed specifically at biology and chemistry students.

What if you had the chance to complete your own research project at ETH over the summer and to join in discussions about the university’s future? Two students, Katherine Bancroft and Siqi Liu, seized this opportunity, made possible by a new student programme at ETH’s Department of Computer Science.

The Helmut Horten Foundation has supported Zurich’s medical hub for many years. Now, a new donation to ETH will enable the strengthening of the Zurich-Ticino “health axis”.

Cells use a sophisticated parcel service to transport biomolecules to their destination. James E. Rothman discovered the cellular transport system, winning the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 2013 for his work. Next week, he will give this year’s Pauli Lectures at ETH Zurich.

Need an optical or electron microscope for your research? Look no further than ScopeM. The Hönggerberg campus has been home to this technology platform since 2014.