ETH News

Vice President of Research Christian Wolfrum is leaving ETH as of 1 July 2025 to take up a new academic challenge: he is to become Deputy President and Provost responsible for all academic matters at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).

ETH Zurich is present at the Olma trade fair in St Gallen. Using spin-offs and games, the ETH booth illustrates how research can contribute to making Swiss food and agriculture sustainable.

Life is a constant stream of decisions that pit sober reflection against powerful emotions, conscious deliberation against gut instincts. Using complex models and sophisticated experiments, ETH researchers study how we combine these different decision-making strategies.

The ETH Board has appointed Christian Wolfrum as Vice President for Research at ETH Zurich effective 1 January 2023. In his roles as Professor of Translational Nutritional Biology, Director of Studies and Associate Vice President for Medicine, Wolfrum has actively shaped medical teaching and research at the university.

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.

ETH Zurich is stepping up research and teaching in the field of food technology and nutrition. It is supported in this by the companies Givaudan, Bühler and Nestlé with initial funding of 5 million Swiss francs over six years. This funding includes the creation of a new professorship.

The growth in demand for fish and seafood is harming stocks and valuable ecosystems. In response, food technologist Lukas Böcker and food chemist Severin Eder are developing microalgae-based seafood substitutes in their joint Pioneer Fellowship project.

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.

Climate change, pandemics and cyber attacks are risks that have long been in the public spotlight. But there are also risks that ETH researchers consider are still being given too little attention. Photographer Tina Sturzenegger has captured the scenarios on film.

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.

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.

Vanesa Rocha Martin is studying how bacteria can be used to treat infant colic. As part of her Pioneer Fellowship, she is now turning her findings into a first-line therapy with a proven effect.

Algae and insects are rich sources of protein for humans and livestock alike. Getting them on restaurant menus and into animal diet formulations still requires a lot of work – but it’s worth the effort.

Climate change, global population growth and biodiversity loss are a threat to our food system. Four ETH researchers know how to produce, process and consume food more sustainably.

The company Roland were unhappy with the quality of their gluten-free rusks. Fortunately Erich Windhab, a professor at ETH, was on hand to help.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and EPFL have discovered a new type of fat cell that suppresses the growth of new fat cells. This opens up new avenues for preventing obesity-related diseases.

“Naturalness” is a construct – but according to a new study from the ETH Consumer Behavior group, a product’s success on the food market is primarily defined by whether or not consumers perceive it as natural.

The latest study by researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich suggests that excessive consumption of fatty foods could severely disrupt the development of the prefrontal cortex in the maturing brains of young people. This could potentially lead to cognitive defects in later adulthood in areas such as learning and memory, personality and impulse control.

ETH professor Christian Wolfrum is seeking out new substances with which to combat diabetes. One particular bile acid already looks promising – but he isn’t satisfied, so the search goes on.

Out of a 'haystack' of 40,000 genes from three different organisms, scientists at ETH Zurich and a research consortium in Jena have found genes that are involved in physical ageing. If you influence only one of these genes, the healthy lifespan of laboratory animals is extended – and possibly that of humans, too.

ETH researchers have found that therapeutic iron supplements may be less effective when given in brief intervals: A peptide molecule blocks iron absorption in the intestine even 24 hours after the iron administration.

Elderly women should consume more vitamin D than previously recommended during the winter months. This is the finding of a new study just released by a team of researchers led by ETH Professor Michael B. Zimmermann.

There has been a lot of controversy in recent years over the issue of whether exogenous microRNA molecules can be absorbed from food and even have a physiological effect. A new study by ETH professor Markus Stoffel using mouse models settles the question by demonstrating that the posited dietary uptake does not take place. This questions the potentially promising concept of creating functional foods based on microRNAs.

Researchers at ETH Zurich regularly investigate the number of overweight children in Switzerland. The latest figures have just been published. Stefanie Murer, first author of the study, explains what the figures mean.