Research

A study on almost 4000 people of African descent has identified a gene that acts as natural defense against HIV by limiting its replication in certain white blood cells. An international effort co-led by EPFL, Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory, and Imperial College London, it paves the way for new treatment strategies.

ETH Zurich molecular biologist Mandy Boontanrart is researching gene therapies that could be used to cure two of the most common types of inherited anaemia. She has now developed a promising approach for so-called beta-hemoglobinopathies.

In a breakthrough for bioengineering, researchers at EPFL have developed organoids that can model the human respiratory tract. The organoids, called AirGels, allow them to uncover the mechanism by which antibiotic-resistant pathogens like Pseudomonas aeruginosa infect the respiratory tract.

In collaboration with CHUV, EPFL engineers propose wrapping an adhesive hydrogel patch around a collapsed trachea for treatment of Tracheomalacia.

Bruno Schuler and his young team are embarking on an ambitious research project: He will selectively generate defects in atomically-thin semiconductor layers and attempt to measure and control their quantum properties with simultaneous picosecond temporal resolu­tion and atomic precision. The resulting insights are expected to establish fundamental knowledge for future quantum computers.

A team led by researchers from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) advances to the finals of the XPRIZE Rainforest Competition. The international competition aims to promote the development of autonomous technologies for collecting data on biodiversity.

The pathogens that cause urinary tract infections are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a rapid test and a new therapeutic approach using bacteria-infecting viruses known as phages.

A research team from PSI and ETH Zurich, together with the Baden Cantonal Hospital and University Hospital Zurich, wants to improve a method used for diagnosing breast cancer.

EPFL scientists have developed a model that sheds light on the seismic risks arising from subsurface fluid injections carried out as part of geothermal energy extraction. 

Large language models such as GPT-3 are able to learn new concepts by interacting with their users. Researchers at ETH and Google may now have uncovered a key mechanism behind this capability.

Researchers at EPFL introduce the highly-multidisciplinary, AI-enhanced, biosensing tool ImmunoSEIRA for the detection of misfolded proteins linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

EPFL scientists show that even a few simple examples are enough for a quantum machine-learning model, the “quantum neural networks”, to learn and predict the behavior of quantum systems, bringing us closer to a new era of quantum computing.

Since the start of this year, a suite of instruments has been hard at work detecting a broad spectrum of aerosols at the MeteoSwiss weather station in Payerne, in Vaud Canton. This pioneering project – a joint initiative between EPFL, the Swiss Federal Office of Meteorology Climatology and European partners – aims to improve pollen forecasting and to gain further insights into the critical impact that bioaerosols, smoke and dust have on cloud formation and climate.

Swiss engineers are training legged robots for future lunar missions that will search for minerals and raw materials. To ensure that the robots can continue to work even if one of them malfunctions, the researchers are teaching them teamwork.

The way the brain regulates pupil size is different from previously thought: fundamentally responsible is the neurotransmitter orexin, as researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown. This discovery could well alter our understanding of consciousness and illnesses such as narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s.