Main content

News

24.10.2018

Joël Mesot appointed new ETH President

Switzerland’s Federal Council has appointed Joël Mesot, Director of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), as the new President of ETH Zurich. On 1 January 2019, Joël Mesot will take over from the current President, Lino Guzzella, who has continued to build the university’s formidable international reputation over the past four years.

18.10.2018

Botnar Research Centre for Child Health: Professor Daniel Müller about success measures and challenges ahead

On 19 September, the University of Basel and ETH Zurich co-founded the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) in Basel. The centre is funded by a CHF 100 million contribution from the Fondation Botnar. In an interview, D-BSSE Professor Daniel Müller describes the unique opportunity to translate the fantastic innovations in biomedicine to cure diseases in children in developing countries.

17.10.2018

Regulating gene transcription using light

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.

09.10.2018

TV programme on stem cell research

D-BSSE Professor Timm Schroeder together with Dr Ivan Martin from the University Hospital Basel have engineered human bone marrow tissue. For the first time, human blood stem cells remain funtional for a prolonged period of time in this artificial tissue. The German TV programme Nano broadcasted by 3Sat reported on these promising findings which had been published by PNAS in May 2018 (TV programme in German).

04.10.2018

Recording device for cell history

Researchers around D-BSSE professor Randall Platt 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. The study on the discovery of biological data loggers was published on 3 October in Nature.

01.10.2018

ETH life magazine: Between building plans and mountains

Niels Bürckert, Head of Infrastructure Services at D-BSSE, is responsible for ensuring that the researchers always have everything they need, from a simple pencil to a complex microscopy system. At the moment, however, he is extremely occupied with the building plans for the new BSS building. In his role as the chief user representative, he is focusing on the planning of the interior fittings. Read more in the September issue of ETH life, page 14.


Digitalisierung in der Medizin: öffentliche Vorträge

Bild_Digitalisierung_in_der_Medizin

The D-BSSE is participating in the 2nd Swiss Digital Day on 25 October 2018. Two public talks in German language offer research insights into the field of Digitalisation in Medical Sciences.

Study at D-BSSE

Find information on the two D-BSSE Master's degree programmes (Master in Biotechnology, and Master in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics) and on the D-BSSE PhD programme.

Our Spin-offs

From the Theory of Biosystems to Understanding and Engineering Cells and Organisms

Research in life sciences is central to overcoming the challenges of human health and disease, production processes in industry and their impact on the environment. The magnitude and complexity of these challenges call for a paradigm shift towards holistic, systems-based and interdisciplinary approaches. At the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE), experimental and computational biologists and engineers work together in an interdisciplinary team in order to conduct comprehensive analysis of complex processes in cells and organisms. They develop strategies and techniques for the programming and rational design of cell functions, and implement these in complex biological systems. D-BSSE research is driven by open scientific questions and unmet societal needs in biotechnology and life sciences.
The mission of D-BSSE is the understanding, rational design and programming of complex biological systems from the nanoscale up to whole organisms.