ETH News

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.

The loss of myelin sheaths in the brain is a hallmark of multiple sclerosis. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed an MRI method that maps the condition of this nerve insulation layer more accurately than before.

The brain’s state of arousal is the key to many stress- and anxiety-related disorders. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now found a way to influence it with a new biofeedback method.

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.

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.  

The ETH spin-off aiEndoscopic has developed a device that should make intubation easier and safer in the future. It combines artificial intelligence and robotics.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and Empa have developed a patch with a sensor function. It can be used to seal wounds in the abdomen after surgery. The polymer patch warns before the occurrence of dangerous leaks on sutures in the gastrointestinal tract.

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 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.

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 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.

As wave specialists, seismologists map the structure of planets from the information that seismic waves carry. Now, the team led by ETH professor Andreas Fichtner is also using this knowledge for medical imaging.

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.

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.

Microrobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognises cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism.

What secrets are held by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way? Andrea Ghez, astronomer and Nobel Laureate in Physics, will discuss this question as part of next week’s Paul Bernays Lectures 2021. The honorary lecture series on the philosophy of the exact sciences will take place for the tenth time.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a molecule that fluoresces where new tissue is forming in the body. Alongside helping to detect tumours, the molecule could play a significant role in research of wound healing disorders.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and University of Zurich have developed a new microscopy technique that lights up the brain with high resolution imagery. This allows neuroscientists to study brain functions and ailments more closely and non-invasively.  

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.

Bernd Bodenmiller  studies the mechanisms of cancer development. The quantitative biologist uses 3D analysis and virtual reality to detect groups of cells that break away from tumours.  

Seven ETH researchers can look forward to generous funding for their projects: the European Research Council (ERC) has approved a total amount of around 15 million Swiss francs.  

ETH researchers have developed a new generation of microelectrode-array chips for measuring nerve impulses, enabling studies of how thousands of nerve cells interact with each other.

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.

Some people are better protected than others against urinary tract infections. This may be because their bodies produce more of a protein called uromodulin. An interdisciplinary research team has now found out how this helper protein brings relief when nature calls and how this knowledge might benefit the treatment and prevention of these painful inflammations.

Imaging technology helps to detect cardiovascular diseases much earlier; however, precise examinations are still very time-consuming. Researchers from ETH and the University of Zurich have now presented a method that could greatly accelerate dynamic magnetic resonance imaging of blood flow.

Researchers have used cryo-electron microscopy to elucidate for the first time the structure and function of a very small enzyme embedded in cell membranes. This enzyme builds complex sugar trees that are subsequently attached to other membrane proteins. The findings could accelerate the development of new, protein-based medications.

Microbial communities are known to be indispensable for our planet. But surprisingly little is known about how they function. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology and ETH Zurich are now shedding a little light on this subject.

Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have shown that chaperone proteins dynamically bind to the Parkinson protein α-synuclein. If this interaction is disturbed, it leads to cell damage and the formation of aggregates typical for the disease.

ETH researchers use artificial intelligence to improve quality of images recorded by a relatively new biomedical imaging method. This paves the way towards more accurate diagnosis and cost-effective devices.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Tübingen have taken a high-resolution look at the structure and function of cell-to-cell connections in filamentous, multicellular cyanobacteria. This enables them to explain how these microorganisms regulate the transport of various substances between the individual cells.

At its annual event this week, the Hochschulmedizin Zürich initiative presented its new flagship project Surgent. Newly developed technology will enable operations to be planned and carried out with the utmost precision, in part thanks to holographic navigation.

Sleeping sickness-causing parasites contain an unusual protein synthesis machinery. A team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Berne resolved its very special structure for the first time.

Cryo-electron microscopy is one of the pioneering examination methods in biomedical research. Thanks to generous donations from four partners, ETH is now able to develop further in this area. The donations enable the acquisition of another device and the development of a new professorship.

Lymphatic vessels actively contribute to the spread of cancer metastases from various organs. This unexpected realisation is the result of a joint study by researchers from ETH Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich as part of the research initiative Skintegrity.

A new substance makes particular molecules in the brain visible using imaging, enabling better research into brain diseases.

The two ETH particle physicists Jannis Fischer and Max Ahnen are building a brain scanner that is ten times less expensive and much smaller than current models. Their ground-breaking work has earned them a place on the 2018 "30 Under 30" list published by the American business magazine Forbes.

Philosophy of science in medical research: pharmacy students are learning how theory, methods and experiments affect scientific results and how to assess the significance of the results.

ETH researchers have succeeded in determining the 3D structure of the enzyme that attaches sugar chains to proteins – a breakthrough that they recently published in the journal Science.

The ETH spin-off GratXray is working to improve precision in mammography. With the help of an innovative new device, breast cancer detection might not only become more accurate, but also painless. This is a revolutionary step in breast screening.

Inspired by white blood cells rolling on endovascular walls before transmigrating to the disease site, scientists at ETH Zurich have succeeded in getting particles to move along the walls of microscopic, three-dimensional vessels. This method could be used in targeted cancer therapeutics.

ETH scientists have disproved a decades-old orthodoxy: cerebrospinal fluid does not leave the cranial cavity via blood vessels, but instead through the lymphatic system. This finding has far-reaching implications in new treatments for dementia.

An international team of researchers have discovered a new type of transition in protein folding: amyloid crystals formed from amyloid fibrils by a decrease in energy. The crystals are even more stable than the fibrils, which are responsible for a number of serious neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

Researchers at ETH have discovered that the formation of protein aggregates in yeast cells is reversible. This casts new light on human diseases that can be attributed to certain protein aggregates.

Scientists have identified the mechanism that allows fluorescent proteins to switch colour in two phases. They are thereby laying the groundwork for new applications in microscopy and functional analyses in biological research.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Vienna have discovered a type of bacteria that uses tiny daggers to prevent itself from being eaten by amoebae. The scientists also resolved the three-dimensional structure of the mechanism that allows the micro-daggers to be shot quickly.

Brain researchers at ETH Zurich and other universities have shown for the first time that a region of the brain associated with empathy only activates very weakly in autistic people. This knowledge could help to develop new therapies for those affected by autism.

Using a nano-tomography method, material scientists have succeeded in localizing hydrogen inclusions within a structural metal in 3D for the first time. This was made possible by a uniquely modified measurement method developed at ETH Zurich.

Switzerland’s credentials as a research location have been enhanced with a major new facility: the SwissFEL X-ray free-electron laser was put into operation at the PSI yesterday. ETH researchers are among those expecting to use the system to gain insights into hitherto hidden processes at the molecular and atomic level.

Scientists have developed a highly sensitive sensor to detect tiny changes in strong magnetic fields. The sensor may find widespread use in medicine and other areas.

A new interdisciplinary, large-scale project from the "Hochschulmedizin Zürich" network focuses on skin research in Zurich. This will help the city to become a world-leading centre of research in this field.

Biological cells can expand, contract and interact with neighbouring cells. With an advancement in a microscopy technique, ETH Zurich researchers can now readily, directly, and accurately determine which forces are at work during cell motion and where. The technique is used in areas such as cancer research.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new marker substance for positron emission tomography (PET) that will allow them to monitor the progression of the degenerative muscle disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a patient’s brain.

A radiation-free and painless ultrasound method instead of a mammogram is how Orçun Göksel and Sergio Sanabria would like breast cancer screens to be carried out in the future. The technology developed by the two ETH researchers, which can also detect other diseases, was yesterday awarded the Spark Award 2016.

ETH Professor Marco Stampanoni played a major role in advancing X-ray microscopy. Now, scientists can even shoot three-dimensional and extremely high-resolution films.

Researchers discovered a new mechanism of how fluorescent proteins can change colour. It enables the microscopic visualization of individual cells in their three-dimensional environment in living organisms.

Researchers have succeeded in achieving a high-resolution three-dimensional map of a comparatively large, complex and rare molecule: the complete ribosome (the protein-producing machinery) in the mitochondria (the intracellular powerhouse) of mammals.

Take three driven physics wizards, an innovative business idea and lots of hard work, and what do you get? An ETH spin-off that could further advance both MRI research and medical diagnostics.

Thomas Wälchli’s goal is to curb the growth of brain tumours. In his doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich, the physician examined how blood vessels develop in the brain, as this process also promotes tumour growth. The scientist developed a technique that allows new insights into the specific developmental stages of blood vessels in the brain.