ETH News

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals often became hubs of infection. Researchers from ETH Zurich, EPFL and the ISI Foundation are developing a wearable tracking system for healthcare facilities that can identify the risks of infections. Initial tests in Switzerland and Africa show its potential.

A new study by various Swiss universities shows that aerosols in indoor air can vary in acidity. This acidity determines how long viruses remain infectious in the air – with profound implications for virus transmission and strategies to contain it.

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.

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.

José Antonio Pérez Escobar studied who was best able to cope with the pandemic. People who are able to deal with negative emotions were particularly successful. This skill can be learned, he says.  

In his doctoral thesis, Dario Meili explores discrimination. Although there are instances of discrimination in our society, the certificate requirement is not one of them, he says.

The announcement that COVID certificates will be compulsory has been welcomed by both students’ and lecturers’ associations at ETH Zurich as the best way back to in-person teaching. Implementation is a challenge, as Rector Sarah Springman explains.

After three semesters of online teaching, it’s time for students to get back to ETH, says Hermann Lehner, Head of Academic Services at ETH Zurich. He hopes that the Federal Council's further decisions will enable face-to-face teaching at universities.

SARS-CoV-2 is critically dependent on a special mechanism for the production of its proteins. A collaborative team led by a research group at ETH Zurich obtained molecular insights into this process and demonstrated that it can be inhibited by chemical compounds, thereby significantly reducing viral replication in infected cells.

How do you get more people to have vaccinations? Gudela Grote firmly believes that it’s worth looking at team dynamics.

Which researchers excelled? What were the milestones in the development of our teaching? And what was the most innovative research? The annual report 2020 describes ETH's achievements and performance in a challenging year.

The end of the pandemic is still not in sight, but we have every reason to be hopeful. How has the first year of living with the virus changed ETH? And what will endure after the crisis ends?

As Chair of the National Science Task Force, Martin Ackermann has to perform a constant balancing act between science, politics, the media and society. So how does he do it?

We look for certainty in uncertain times. But that is not something statistics can necessarily provide. Tanja Stadler explains why it is important to consider statistical uncertainty through describing the COVID-19 R value estimation which she performs for Switzerland.

Tanja Stadler, ETH Professor of Computational Evolution, is working at the forefront in the fight against the coronavirus. She recently became head of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force’s Data and Modelling Group, which closely studies the new variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Widespread and repeated testing, including of healthy people, is an effective tool in the fight against COVID-19, write Patrick Jenny and Wolf-Dietrich Hardt. With this approach, we have a chance against the new and more infectious viral strains.

An extraordinary year is drawing to a close. ETH News takes a look back at the highlights that emerged amidst difficult and unsettling times, at ingenious ideas, fascinating science and solidarity in action during – and despite – the coronavirus pandemic.

The new episode of the ETH Podcast marks the beginning of a series on the topic of uncertainty. The presidents of the students' umbrella organization and the rector report on how they are dealing with the pandemic.

Roman Stocker, member of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force, explains why it is so important in this pandemic that experts exchange information across national borders.

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting Swiss crisis management to the test. ETH Professor Andreas Wenger and his team from the Center for Security Studies have investigated in detail how well Switzerland coped with the first phase of the crisis.

Most people underestimate exponential growth, including when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus. The ability to grasp the magnitude of exponential growth depends on the way in which it is communicated. Using the right framing helps to understand the benefit of mitigation measures.

Online teaching has been the dominant feature of the Autumn Semester curriculum. Only three weeks remain before exams start. Hermann Lehner, Head of Academic Services, explains why sitting exams in person at ETH is so important, and the relevant arrangements.

During the lockdown last spring, Julian Ferchow put his doctoral project aside to help relieve the strain on hospitals. Together with his team, the 31-year-old researcher discovered a simpler way of turning patients suffering from COVID-19 in intensive care. A company is now producing the Proning Taco.

If we are to minimize the impact of future disease outbreaks, we must recognize the importance of immunization and invest in preemptive vaccine development, writes Tim Keys.

A research team led by the University of Basel and ETH Zurich has identified a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant that has spread widely across Europe in recent months, according to an un-peer-reviewed preprint released this week

ETH Professor Thomas Van Boeckel and his colleagues have developed a model that enables them to predict the occupancy of intensive care beds. At the moment, this does not bode well for the coming weeks, if the corona virus continues to spread unchecked.

With the number of coronavirus cases growing rapidly, ETH Zurich sees no choice but to extensively restrict classroom teaching starting on 2 November. The ETH community will receive detailed information over the course of the next week.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Bern have discovered a mechanism by which the corona virus manipulates human cells to ensure its own replication. This knowledge will help to develop drugs and vaccines against the corona virus.

ETH researchers have investigated how the population has been complying with the prescribed measures to combat the coronavirus. Angela Bearth, one of the authors of the study, explains what conclusions can be drawn from the data so far and what areas deserve particular attention in the near future.

During the coronavirus pandemic the government is relying more than ever on scientific expertise and has set up the "Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force" in response to the crisis. In August the Task Force will have a new mandate and a new Chair: Martin Ackermann, Professor of Molecular Microbial Biology at ETH Zurich and Head of Eawag's Environmental Microbiology Department.

Many countries are turning to digital aids to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic. ETH researchers are now pointing out the ethical challenges, that need to be taken into account and the issues that need careful consideration when planning, developing and implementing such tools.

A healthcare solution born in an ETH student workshop has now entered mass production: the helpfulETH initiative is supporting hospitals during the coronavirus crisis by producing special face shields. ETH Zurich is working on the project alongside the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR Rapperswil), Geberit and Swiss Prime Pack.

The switch to online teaching last semester has worked incredibly well at ETH. But what form will teaching take in the autumn? Rector Sarah Springman discusses some of the arrangements that the university is currently considering.

Social scientists at ETH Zurich studied how students’ social networks and mental health changed as a result of coronavirus lockdown measures. They found that although anxiety decreased, feelings of stress and loneliness rose. A strong social network was able to buffer this effect, however.

Difficulties with schoolwork? “Lern mit mir” (Learn with me) is a platform for pupils that gives them access to their own personal tutor. ETH’s Vocational Education and Training division is heading the programme.

ETH researchers are using a new mathematical model to calculate a possible second wave of the pandemic in Switzerland. Even though such a wave would probably grow more slowly than the first without overloading hospitals, its death toll may turn out to be significantly higher.

Today sees the start of the pilot phase for the long-awaited tracing app jointly developed by teams at ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne on behalf of the federal government. Switzerland is the first country in the world to use APIs from Google and Apple.

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.

ETH researchers have set up a test rig to put newly developed ventilator systems through their paces.

Rather than delaying the much-needed restructuring, we should use recovery programs to reset the economy on a sustainable footing, urges Jochen Markard.

ETH Professor Kristina Shea and her team are busy developing a new ventilator. Their aim is to make it as inexpensive, modular and easy to use as possible – the ideal combination for any country that needs this medical device.

Androgen-deprivation therapy could protect against infection with SARS-CoV-2 and against severe disease progression. This is suggested by a study led by a professor from the Università della Svizzera Italiana and ETH Zurich.

For close to two months now, many of us have been working almost entirely from home. And it’s going far better than some people anticipated. What has now become normal will change the working world profoundly, believes Gudela Grote.

To finish off the special podcast series #COVID-19, Detlef Günther,  Vice President for Research, talks about the lessons he draws for ETH's research from the current situation.

In shaking our society to its core, says Jaboury Ghazoul, Covid-19 shows that we must adopt a far broader perspective to tackle the complex socio-ecological problems humanity faces.

As we age, our lung tissue becomes stiffer – and this is a phenomenon that SARS-CoV-2 may be exploiting. Caroline Uhler and G. V. Shivashankar outline their hypothesis.

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.

As the world anxiously awaits a remedy for the novel coronavirus, ETH Zurich is also involved in the search for active substances and vaccines. This overview sets out the therapeutic approaches pursued by ETH researchers.

Working from home, distance learning, online shopping – many African countries cannot easily adopt rich nations’ measures against the coronavirus. Isabel Günther calls for international solidarity in the pandemic.

ETH researchers are developing and improving methods to detect the pandemic virus or virus-specific antibodies. With the help of such tests, the scientists are also investigating the details of how the pathogen is spreading. A project overview.

To learn more about how fast SARS-CoV-2 is spreading, the genome of the virus is key.

How exactly is the coronavirus spreading in Switzerland? To determine this based on a large dataset, Biomedical informatics specialists from ETH Zurich and the canton of Bern have now combined their online questionnaires on the shared platform covidtracker.ch.

The current situation presents an enormous challenge for economists. Normally they would wait for an economic quarter to end before analysing data – now all of a sudden they have to try to work with data that is changing every day.

People suffering from COVID-19 need air enriched with oxygen, as SARS-CoV-2 attacks the lungs. Presenting new ideas and prototypes for oxygen concentrators, researchers at ETH Zurich hope to avoid a worldwide oxygen shortage.

“It’s quiet in Singapore, it’s cooler – and you can make remarkable scientific findings right now,” says Gerhard Schmitt, Director of the SEC. The coronavirus crisis has turned the megacity into a giant research lab.

Robots allow people to interact with each other without physical contact. This means they can protect us from infectious diseases, which has been given too little consideration in robotics, says Brad Nelson.

The “lockdown light” decreed by the Swiss Federal Council has led to each person infected with Sars-CoV-2 going on to infect only one person on average instead of two or three prior to the lockdown, as calculations by a team from ETH Zurich have shown. This means the situation is stable, but the epidemic has yet to be contained.

Right now, the 3D printers at the ETH spin-off Spectroplast are working at full capacity as never before: the young company has started producing silicone attachments for breathing masks on behalf of medical companies.

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!

Torbjørn Netland advocates a global approach to the production of ventilators and defines six areas of activity.

In the video series "Ask the Expert", the head of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute estimates the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

Numerous factors affect the spread of coronavirus. To better predict the progression of the epidemic, researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of California, Los Angeles have started a “datathon”. Participants from around the globe are called on to develop models based on publicly accessible data.

The Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour is currently planning a new study on how feedback affects the motivation and focus of people working remotely.

The coronavirus crisis forced ETH Zurich to suspend its experimental research activity and switch to virtual teaching at short notice. A report from the Department of Physics reveals the impact of the seismic switch on a practical level.

ETH Zurich has been in lockdown for more than two weeks now. Although many projects have been put on hold, research relevant to the coronavirus has gathered speed. Many projects and initiatives are currently underway that are intended to help bring the pandemic under control.

Remote research, what does that mean? Andreas Wallraff is currently running the Quantum Device Lab from home.

Participate in containing coronavirus: medical informatics specialists at ETH Zurich have developed a monitoring system to complement corona tests and track how the virus is spreading in Switzerland. All residents of Switzerland can take part in the online survey.

Viola Vogel talks to the ETH Podcast about how soap, ginger, rinsing our mouths and gargling can make us more resistant against viruses.

ETH students have launched a new web platform, “Students4Hospitals”. Students of all disciplines from across Switzerland can register there to be placed on a relief mission in a healthcare institution. The platform also lets hospitals register their need for volunteers.

Shuttered buildings, empty auditoriums: classroom teaching at ETH Zurich has been suspended since 16 March. Thanks to online teaching, however, students can still attend their lectures virtually.

In view of the global Covid 19 crisis, the Botnar Research Center for Child Health is launching an emergency initiative to develop approaches to deal with the situation.

With many of us thrown into an unusual work situation, now’s a good moment to think about boundaries, says Gudela Grote.

In response to these exceptional times, the monthly ETH Podcast will appear as a series of short items dealing with various aspects of the novel form of coronavirus and all its ramifications. We’ll be starting with ETH President Joël Mesot.

The expected surge in coronavirus patients is pushing Swiss hospitals to the very limits of their capacity. Equipment, consumables and other resources are desperately needed. Researchers right across Switzerland can provide valuable support through pooled resources. The ETH Domain has set up a dedicated platform “Academic Resources for COVID” to coordinate their efforts.

In crises such as coronavirus, the value of research and facts becomes clear. Even when experts don’t (and can’t) have all the answers, we’ve got to listen to what they have to say, says Reto Knutti.

Coronavirus testing is an essential part of identifying infected people and curbing the spread of the pandemic. To speed up the testing process, the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich has made its laboratory equipment available to the canton of Thurgau.