ETH News

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.

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.

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.

Experts from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the University Hospital Zurich have used machine learning to jointly create an innovative method. This new approach can predict how individual cells react to specific treatments, offering hope for more accurate diagnoses and therapeutics.

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.

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.

ETH Zurich and Roche are joining forces in Basel to advance the development of new methods that facilitate the search for medicines. Together, they will train specialists for the biomedical challenges of our time.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Scientists at ETH Zurich are working to develop information-processing switching systems in biological cells. Now, for the first time, they have developed an OR switch in human cells that reacts to different signals.

ETH researchers have drastically improved existing proteomics techniques so they can capture all functional alterations in proteins. Their work paves the way for using these signatures as diagnostic tools.

Ruedi Aebersold, a professor of molecular systems biology at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, is to receive the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist. Aebersold is being honoured for the part he has played in founding and advancing the field of proteomics, a branch of biology that is seen as the foundation of the personalised medicine of tomorrow.

Leading AI researchers from 30 top institutions across Europe are joining forces to form the European AI network ELLIS. Today, it celebrates its launch, with ETH Zurich as a founding member. The ETH Zurich ELLIS Unit is set on establishing the foundations for reliable and trustworthy artificial intelligence.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and ZHAW present a simple method to precisely map resistance exercise on machines and record missing comparative figures. This could help to develop optimised training strategies in the future, such as for age-associated muscular atrophy.

The Basel Botnar Research Centre for Child Health is funding five research projects at ETH Zurich dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Bioengineers are on the brink of developing artificial organisms that will open up new applications in medicine and industry. Beat Christen discusses their risks and benefits.

As part of ETH Day celebrations tomorrow, Randall Platt will be awarded the ETH Zurich Latsis Prize. The professor in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel has carried out exceptional work in the field of genome engineering – an achievement made all the more impressive given his young age.

Very little was known till now about DNA repair by homologous recombination, which is fundamental for human health. Now an ETH research group has for the first time isolated and studied all the key proteins involved in this process, laying the foundation for investigating many diseases.

Scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a new method that greatly simplifies the production of large DNA molecules containing many hundreds of genes. With this method, they have built the first genome of a bacterium entirely designed by a computer algorithm. The method has the potential to revolutionise biotechnology.

With the help of machine learning, ETH researchers have been able to thoroughly describe the repertoire proteins on the cell surface for the first time. The latest findings are opening up new approaches in pharmaceutical research.

Researchers led by Mustafa Khammash have developed a new method that uses blue light to control the transcription of DNA into RNA in single cells. The technology could also be used in tissue engineering and stem cell research.

ETH researchers are using the CRISPR-Cas system to develop a novel recording mechanism: the snippets of DNA it produces can provide information about certain cellular processes. In future, this cellular memory might even be used in diagnostics.

Sometimes viruses and bacteria undergo genetic changes that alter their properties and eventually make them more dangerous to humans. Tanja Stadler’s mathematical models shed light on how fast they can mutate and spread.

New knowledge about proteins helps researchers develop innovative solutions for clinical practice, for example to the benefit of patients with Parkinsons’s disease.

There is no single main reason why certain drugs affect people differently, but rather many small factors. ETH researchers demonstrated this with a model system. They believe that, in order to test the effectiveness of certain drugs, it is necessary to look at the biological system as a whole.

ETH researchers have used a new approach to discover previously unknown interactions between proteins and small metabolic molecules in bacterial cells. The technique can also be used to test the effect of medications.

Martin Fussenegger is convinced that the digital world in which we live will become interlinked with the biological world. He envisages that we will be able to cure diseases with electronic pills in the next 50 years.

By performing large-scale proteomics analysis of liver proteins, ETH researchers have discovered a protein that is essential for liver regeneration. They have also figured out the mechanism of the protein’s function.

At the age of 29, biotechnologist Randall Platt has already achieved a lot: more than 1,000 research laboratories around the world use a method that he developed. But he is also the family man who recently took on a professorship at ETH.

Ten years ago, ETH Zurich established its first and only department outside Zurich: the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel. ETH will soon expand its outpost. The construction of a new department building on the Schällemätteli campus will bring it right next to the University of Basel.

ETH Professor Sabine Werner and her team won the Spark Award 2017 yesterday for their groundbreaking new approach to combating viral diseases. If their results can be confirmed, they could lead to the development of better treatments for viral diseases such as herpes.

ETH researchers develop an integral control loop for living cells extending established tools from control engineering. This could help the cells produce precisely controlled amounts of a product.

Biologists at ETH Zurich have developed a method that, for the first time, makes it possible to measure concentration changes of several hundred metabolic products simultaneously and almost in real time. The technique could inspire basic biological research and the search for new pharmaceutical agents.

The Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) at ETH Zurich in Basel and the University of Basel are looking to expand their collaboration. The cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft are investing a total of CHF 10 million with a view to strengthening their collaboration in the field of personalised medicine and implementing new infrastructure measures.

The ETH Board appointed six professors at ETH Zurich as part of its meeting of 4/5 March 2015, in accordance with the application submitted by ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella.

Ruedi Aebersold, Professor of Systems Biology, is one of the world’s leading researchers in proteomics. In the last few years, he has developed the proteomics method together with a team of international researchers to such an extent that doctors and clinical researchers can now use this technique as a tool. In an interview with ETH News, the professor at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich explains how information from proteins can advance what is commonly known as personalised medicine.