ETH News

Researchers at ETH Zurich have discovered a mechanism behind the yo-yo effect: fat cells have a memory that is based on epigenetics.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are utilising artificial intelligence to analyse the behaviour of laboratory mice more efficiently and reduce the number of animals in experiments.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have combined two gene editing methods. This enables them to quickly investigate the significance of many genetic mutations involved in the development and treatment of cancer.

Pioneer Fellow Hao Liu uses lasers to produce microfilament structures to grow biological tissue in the lab for research and medicine – from muscle tissue to cartilage. Now he’s working to ready this technology for the market.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have analysed down to the smallest detail the unusual arsenal of weapons that a predatory marine bacterium has at its disposal. Perhaps one day these weapons could also be put to use in medicine.

Using a new method, researchers at ETH Zurich can measure alterations in the social network of proteins in cells. This work lays the foundation for the development of new drugs to treat diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

An organism as a tenant in another - in biology, this often works quite well. ETH researchers have now shed light on how such a partnership of a cell in a cell can establish.

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.

Nina Cabezas Wallscheid, Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Ageing, is researching the impact of nutrition on the human blood system. Her research team aims to identify the ideal diet for a long and healthy life.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have used a drug screening platform they developed to show that an antidepressant, currently on the market, kills tumour cells in the dreaded glioblastoma – at least in the cell-culture dish.

Fatima Ali Ebrahim struggled during her first year at ETH Zurich, finding lectures difficult and knowing hardly anyone. She even considered dropping out. In the video series "Student Stories," she shares what helped her turn things around and why she now loves studying at ETH.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed ultra-flexible brain probes that accurately record brain activity without causing tissue damage. This opens up new avenues for the treatment of a range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. 

A new class of fat cells makes people healthier. The cells consume energy and produce heat through seemingly pointless biochemical reactions.

The brain chemical orexin is crucial when we choose between sport and the tasty temptations that beckon everywhere we turn. This research finding could also help people who find it difficult to motivate themselves to exercise.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have uncovered how colorectal cancer cells colonise the liver. Their findings could open up new ways to suppress this process in the future.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a cell-based bone model to help investigate the cause of this genetic condition.

Using machine-learning methods, researchers at ETH Zurich have shown that more than half of all killer T cells exhibit nuclear invaginations, or folds in the cell’s nuclear envelope. Thanks to this particular cellular architecture, such cells are able to mount a faster and stronger response to pathogens.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have engineered bacteria in the laboratory to efficiently use methanol. The metabolism of these bacteria can now be tapped into to produce valuable products currently made by the chemical industry from fossil fuels.

Plants with multiple sets of chromosomes have advantages over their relatives with a double set. But why they often start out infertile was only partially understood. Biologists at ETH Zurich have now discovered a new reason for the initial difficulties.

Organoids grown from human stem cells can help provide answers to important medical questions. In a partnership that looks set to profit both sides, ETH professor Barbara Treutlein has teamed up with pharma giant Roche to advance research in this area.

Heinrich Ursprung was President of ETH Zurich from 1973 to 1987. He led the bilateral negotiations between Switzerland and the EU in the field of research in his capacity as State Secretary in the 1990s. This influential figure in the Swiss higher education landscape passed away shortly before his 92nd birthday.

What began as a venture quickly proved its worth: The ETH Bachelor in Human Medicine is well received by graduates and has helped to establish ETH Zurich in the Swiss medical education landscape. In a video, five graduates talk about what makes studying medicine at ETH so special.

Researchers at ETH Zurich recently developed highly realistic simulations of the proteins on sperm and egg cells coupling together before they fuse. These findings enabled the research team to solve several mysteries of fertilisation at once, which could help to accelerate development of more targeted infertility treatments.

Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a rare condition in which a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. People affected suffer from muscle weakness and paralysis. A research team led by ETH Zurich has now clarified the mechanism of this autoimmune disease.

ETH Zurich researchers have found a virus that kills dormant bacteria. This rare discovery could help to combat germs that can’t be treated with antibiotics alone.

There are some striking parallels between how skin wounds heal and how malignant tumours grow. Cell culture can help us understand the mechanisms involved – but animal testing still has a role to play.

Protein-like aggregates known as amyloids can bind to molecules of genetic material. It is possible that these two types of molecules stabilised each other during the development of life – and that this might even have paved the way for the genetic code.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown that a previously unknown protein plays a key role in a congenital malformation of the heart. Their findings point the way towards new treatment options.

ETH Zurich researchers are illuminating what can happen when cells exceed their normal size and become senescent. Their new findings could help to optimise cancer treatments.

The Chinese World Laureates Association (WLA) has awarded highly endowed science prizes for the second time. The prize for Life Science or Medicine goes to ETH professor emeritus Timothy Richmond, among others.

Cell biologists at ETH Zurich describe a new organelle present in mammalian cells that is made of rings of DNA. This container could potentially play a role in autoimmune diseases, and it could help researchers to understand how cell nuclei evolved.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a suction cup that allows medications to be absorbed through the mucosal lining of the cheeks. This new approach could spare millions of patients the pain and fear associated with injections.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that lets them genetically modify each cell differently in animals. This allows them to study in a single experiment what used to require many animal experiments. Using the new method, the researchers have discovered genes that are relevant for a severe rare genetic disorder.

The CRISPR-Cas gene scissors enable researchers to study the genetic and cellular causes of autism in the lab – directly on human tissue.

The ability to utilize a mere single alternative food source is all it takes for diarrhoea causing Salmonella bacteria to bloom when a gut is already colonized by a closely related strain, according to researchers from ETH Zurich. This coexistence enables the exchange of antibiotic resistance.

ETH Zurich professors Mustafa Khammash and Marc Pollefeys are each recipients of a prestigious Advanced Grant currently awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, rather than the European Research Council.

A new method allows large quantities of muscle stem cells to be safely obtained in cell culture. This provides a potential for treating patients with muscle diseases – and for those who would like to eat meat, but don’t want to kill animals.

ETH Zurich molecular biologist Mandy Boontanrart is researching gene therapies that could be used to cure two of the most common types of inherited anaemia. She has now developed a promising approach for so-called beta-hemoglobinopathies.

Science often runs ahead of legislation – and this is now also true for research on embryo-like cell aggregates from human stem cells. Bioethicist Alessandro Blasimme of ETH Zurich explains why this controversial topic calls for legal clarity.

The pathogens that cause urinary tract infections are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a rapid test and a new therapeutic approach using bacteria-infecting viruses known as phages.

The way the brain regulates pupil size is different from previously thought: fundamentally responsible is the neurotransmitter orexin, as researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown. This discovery could well alter our understanding of consciousness and illnesses such as narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s.

Microbiologists at ETH Zurich have developed computational models that use nutrients and metabolism of plant-associated bacteria to predict how the microbes interact on the surface of leaves and ultimately form the microbiome.

Trichodesmium, a common and ecologically important bacterium, fertilises nutrient-poor regions of the oceans and thereby enables higher life. Crucial to its success is its ability to form aggregates in order to react quickly to changes in its environment. ETH Zurich researchers have shown how the microbes organise themselves in this process.

Bachelor’s students at ETH Zurich were given a year to turn their original ideas into finished products. ETH News presents videos of two of these projects.

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 cells of our body interact with their immediate environment. Researchers have now studied this interaction in detail. In time, they hope to use these findings for improved diagnosis and treatment of wound-healing disorders and cancer.

Despite approved treatments being available, multiple myeloma remains incurable. But researchers at ETH Zurich and University Hospital Zurich set out to improve treatment outcomes by testing hundreds of existing therapeutics outside the body to predict their effectiveness.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have analysed the bird flu epidemic caused by the H7N9 strain that affected China from 2013 to 2017. New phylogenetic trees will help to improve monitoring of future bird flu epidemics.

Computer simulations have helped researchers understand in detail how pharmaceutically active substances cross cell membranes. These findings can now be used to discover new drug candidates more efficiently.

A team led by ETH Zurich chemical engineers Chih-Jen Shih and Andrew deMello have developed a rapid test system made of smart graphene paper. It only costs a few cents per test strip, is easy to use but is as accurate as lab measurements. The approach will impact more than just disease monitoring.

Increasingly dense cell clusters in growing tumours convert blood vessels into fibre-filled channels. This makes immune cells less effective, as findings by researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Strasbourg suggest.

Cancer patients might one day benefit from being administered immune cells from healthy donors. But as things stand, receiving donor cells can cause severe or even fatal immune reactions. A researcher at ETH Zurich has now developed a technology that avoids these.

Gregor Weiss is fascinated by the inner workings of our cells and is driven by the hope of finding a non-antibiotic therapy for urinary tract infections.

Emotional trauma can have far-reaching ripple effects and may even reverberate across generations. Professors Isabelle Mansuy and Katharina Gapp study how the effects of trauma can be inherited through epigenetic mechanisms.

It is known that toxins in tobacco smoke can change our DNA – but where exactly in the genome they do this has been a mystery. A new approach developed by researchers at ETH Zurich now brings light into the darkness. In the future, this could make it easier than ever to determine the safety of many chemical substances.

A research collaboration led by ETH Zurich and MIT will receive a further USD 15 million from the New York-based Simons Foundation to investigate the behaviour of marine bacteria and microalgae. The research will focus on microbial communities that impact the ocean’s carbon cycle.

New research offers potential benefits for those affected by the hereditary metabolic disease methylmalonic aciduria. By combining the results of multiple molecular analyses, scientists can better diagnose this rare and severe disease. In the future, an improved understanding of the disease might also improve treatment options.

A special year is soon coming to an end. In 2022, much has been researched, developed and invented at ETH Zurich. ETH News looks back on an eventful past year.

Researchers from Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have discovered how proteins in the cell can form tiny liquid droplets that act as a smart molecular glue. Clinging to the ends of filaments called microtubules, the glue they discovered ensures the nucleus is correctly positioned for cell division.  

A nature-based economy that regenerates ecosystems and stops species extinction? Christoph Küffer believes this is possible if we strengthen ecology in research and education and make ecological expertise a basic skill for society.  

We posed this question to ETH Zurich researchers. In return, we got five intriguing answers from the perspectives of biomedicine, computer science, biology, robotics and philosophy.

The LOOP Zurich research center combines expertise from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and the four university hospitals in Zurich with the aim of developing more personalized therapies. Two new projects supported by The LOOP Zurich target urinary tract infections and obesity respectively.

ETH Zurich researchers have found that a set of proteins have different shapes in the spinal fluid of healthy individuals and Parkinson’s patients. These could be used in the future as a new type of biomarker for this disease. 

Gregor Weiss used state-of-the-art microscopy to show how the body prevents bladder infections. He now wants to make this method from basic research usable for the analysis of patient samples – and has received the Lopez-Loreta Prize for it.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are planning to use magnetic bacteria to fight cancerous tumours. They have now found a way for these microorganisms to effectively cross blood vessel walls and subsequently colonise a tumour.

Together with her group, Annette Oxenius conducts research on the fundamental mechanisms of the body’s own immune cells as they react to viral infections. The immunologist has now been honoured with the Cloëtta Prize

It is not only classical genes that determine our predisposition to obesity. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown that microRNA molecules play a central role in the regulation of body weight.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are growing human brain-like tissue from stem cells and are then mapping the cell types that occur in different brain regions and the genes that regulate their development.

Scientists have a duty to initiate a dialogue with the public on cellular engineering, says Daniel Müller. The discussion must be held now – before complex engineered cellular systems are ready for widespread use in humans.

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.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method to explore the possibilities of how the pandemic virus could evolve. Thanks to their work, it may be possible to develop antibody therapies and vaccines that are more likely to be effective also against future viral variants.

ETH Zurich is opening a new research and teaching centre with a focus on exploring the origin and prevalence of life on Earth and beyond. Under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Didier Queloz, more than 40 research groups from five departments will address the big questions posed by humankind.

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.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and EPFL are expanding the emerging field of single-cell analysis with a ground-breaking method: Live-seq makes it possible to measure the activity of thousands of genes in a single cell without having to isolate and destroy it.

Researchers of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and ETH Zurich have created the first full connectivity map of the human immune system, showing how immune cells communicate with each other and ways to modulate these pathways in disease.

Researchers from ETH Zurich, the United States and Uganda have identified the gene responsible for resistance in certain cassava cultivars against the devastating cassava mosaic disease. This is an important step for breeding virus-resistant cassava varieties.

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.

The latest CRISPR-based genome editing systems function more like molecular taxis rather than a pair of molecular scissors. This makes them much safer for patients who will soon benefit from gene therapies, as Eric Aird explains.

The Swiss National Science Foundation has awarded Advanced Grants to make up for the loss of European support. Researchers at ETH Zurich did particularly well, with 6 of the 24 grants going to the university.

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.

Using DNA data, ETH researchers have examined seawater to find not only new species of bacteria, but also previously unknown natural products that may one day prove beneficial.

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.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have conducted a detailed study of neurulation – how the neural tube forms during embryonic development. They conclude that this happens less actively than previously thought. This also has implications for understanding defects such as spina bifida.

Researchers from ETH Zurich, University Hospital of Bern and the University of Bern have equipped gut bacteria with data logger functionality as a way of monitoring which genes are active in the bacteria. These microorganisms could one day offer a noninvasive means of diagnosing disease or assessing the impact of a diet on health.

From diagnostics to treatment, the biochemical method developed by Daniel Richter, Edgars Lakis and Jörn Piel paves the way for a diverse range of applications in research and medicine. The researchers received the ETH Zurich Spark Award 2022 for their innovative solution.

Researchers have developed a new method that uses artificial intelligence to analyse animal behaviour. This opens the door to longer-term in-depth studies in the field of behavioural science – while also helping to improve animal welfare. The method is already being tested at Zurich Zoo.

In experiments on mice, researchers at ETH Zurich show that non-essential amino acids act as appetite suppressants and promote the urge to move. Their research provides insight into the neural mechanism that controls this behaviour.

In a technological breakthrough, researchers at ETH Zurich have announced the development of a new technique that can transplant mitochondria – the tiny powerhouses of the cell – from one living cell to another with unparalleled efficiency.

Four researchers from ETH Zurich have been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Since Switzerland is no longer fully associated, they will receive the approximately eight million francs in research funding from the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

Biologists from ETH Zurich have discovered speargun-like molecular injection systems in two types of bacteria and have described their structure for the first time. The special nanomachines are used by the microbes for the interaction between cells and could one day be useful as tools in biomedicine.

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.

Viruses that infect bacteria could one day replace antibiotics because they precisely attack only specific pathogens. Researchers at ETH Zurich are now showing that this is not always the case. This new finding is important because bacterial viruses can transfer antibiotic resistance genes.

ETH Zurich and the other Swiss universities are committed to reducing the stress and suffering experienced by laboratory animals. However, an outright ban on animal testing – being put to the vote in a popular initiative this coming February – would put an end to progress in medical research.

In the last application process for the sought-after ERC Starting Grants, the European Research Council made 11 awards to ETH researchers worth about CHF 17 million. Due to Switzerland’s non-association, however, the researchers will not receive these grants. The funds will now be provided by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

Scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a new method to determine how proteins are organised on the surface of cells. Insights gained with the technology could lead to the development of novel drugs to fight cancer.

These days, the cause of death in cancer patients often isn’t the primary tumour, but metastases. With his research, biochemist Nicola Aceto has found a new way to prevent the formation of such secondary tumours. To achieve this, the Latsis laureate had to repeatedly fight against the prevailing wisdom.

Human cells are like tiny, multi-purpose factories. In his research, ETH biologist Gabriele Alessandro Fontana investigates how cells repair damaged DNA. The mechanisms he has identified will help us to gain a better understanding of diseases and to develop new drugs.

Load-bearing, lightweight and now also recyclable: researchers led by Professor Paolo Ermanni were presented with the Spark Award in recognition of an innovative process for production of sustainable composite materials. ETH Zurich awarded the prize to their promising invention, with this year marking the tenth time the award has been given.

Tom Edwardson modified a tiny artificial protein structure so it could be used as a vehicle for RNA molecules and other active substances. He now aims to create a spin-off to bring his development to market.