The University of Zurich and ETH Zurich are jointly offering a new interdisciplinary Master's degree in brain sciences starting in the fall of 2022. The program combines biology, neuroscience and clinical methods.
This week, the University of Zurich held a symposium to mark the newly established Department of Quantitative Biomedicine. The research institute strengthens UZH’s standing in the field of precision medicine. We met with its director Bernd Bodenmiller to discuss how the department’s methods can be used to benefit patients.
Chronic stress can decrease the quality of our lives, and have long-term negative effects on our health that may be irreversible. The new Hochschulmedizin Zürich (HMZ) flagship project STRESS aims to explore the causes of stress and highlight possible treatments.
Eliminating harmful bacteria with targeted viruses and novel antibiotics: Researchers at UZH are developing new weapons in the fight against multi-resistant bugs.
Using novel technologies, researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich advance our understanding of anxiety and its connection to brain-body interactions.
Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and pathogens that spread from animals to humans are posing major problems for medicine. To combat them, researchers from various fields need to work hand in hand. This approach has become known as One Health, and the latest issue of the UZH Magazin offers an in-depth look at the topic.
“The safest way back to normality is through vaccination”
There are many good reasons why students should get vaccinated against Covid-19, even if they are young and healthy. UZH virologist Alexandra Trkola takes a clear and balanced look at the arguments for and against vaccination.
Increased stress, lack of exercise and frequent snacking: The effects of the pandemic are visible on our waistlines. For endocrinologist Philipp Gerber, the weight gain is not just a short-term side effect, but is storing up problems for the future and needs to be taken seriously.
Researchers from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich led by Daniel Razansky 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.
Researchers from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich deciphered the cellular mechanisms through which tendons can adapt to mechanical stresses. People who carry a certain variant of a gene that is key to this mechanism show improved jumping performance.
Back pain: a disease common to many. However, with his newly developed stem cell therapy, biochemist Stefan Dudli is hoping to make it a thing of the past.
Ana Guerreiro Stücklin treats children and young people at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich. She wants to fight brain tumors with novel therapies.
Infectious disease specialist Huldrych Günthard treats coronavirus patients at the UniversityHospital Zurich (USZ), while biostatistician Leonhard Held evaluates the plethora of publications on the pandemic. We talk about coronavirus, vaccination and research quality during the crisis.
An academic career involves a great deal of uncertainty. For junior researchers, success is as much about passion and enthusiasm as it is about perseverance, resilience and luck.
Targeted Therapies thanks to Biomedical Informatics
The LOOP Zurich, the new medical research center in Zurich, promotes patient-focused therapies. To achieve its goals, the center brings together specialist knowledge in the fields of biomedicine, bioinformatics and clinical research from the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich as well as Zurich’s four university hospitals. Two of The LOOP Zurich’s first research consortia have now started developing innovative treatments methods in oncology and neurorehabilitation.
Is Marian Neidert taking a saw to the branch he’s sitting on? As a neurosurgeon, he operates on brain tumors; as a researcher he’s trying to teach the immune system to fight them itself. But it might be some time before immunotherapies make surgery superfluous.
The CRISPR/Cas gene scissors can be used to prevent congenital diseases. In theory, they could also allow parents to design their dream children. But molecular biologist Gerald Schwank has huge reservations about designer babies.
Children Not Allowed – Sperm Donors and Surrogate Mothers
The new possibilities offered by reproductive medicine give rise to thorny ethical and legal questions: Should people be helped to have children? If so, under what conditions?
Bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment even without antibiotic resistance by slowing down their metabolism and going into a type of deep sleep. A research team reveals the changes bacteria undergo to reach this "persister" state. Annelies Zinkernagel, an infectiologist at UZH, is main author of the publication in the scientific journal PNAS.
Seven new spin-offs emerged from UZH last year. The fledgling businesses have rolled out innovative software for drones, a novel treatment for stress incontinence as well as a method that makes prenatal interventions safer, among other things.
As part of a clinical study involving patients from the University Hospitals in Zurich and Basel, researchers are conducting a thorough and highly precise investigation into the molecular and functional properties of tumors. Their goal is to help physicians to better determine which treatment will best match every patient’s cancer and thus be most effective.
Since the first test-tube baby was born in 1978, reproductive medicine has made great strides. Although many couples with fertility problems have benefitted, the ability to have a child is still not guaranteed.
