Shaping the future of medicine
Now more than ever, medicine is the focus of individual and social interest – it is also in the spotlight at ETH Zurich.
Not only is the population getting older, people are now enjoying a better quality of life in their later years than in previous generations. New treatments are helping to tackle cancer and combat chronic diseases. Medicine dominates and permeates our society, creating new possibilities, but also problems and dependencies.
As a leading university for science and technology, ETH Zurich has been making a significant contribution to advancing medicine for several decades. The university engages in basic research and provides a range of educational opportunities, as well as working to develop diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and transfer them into practical and clinical applications.
One third of ETH professors
Detlef Günther, Vice President for Research and Corporate Relations, is proud of the university’s strong commitment to this important field: “ETH has been working extensively and successfully in the broad field of medicine for a long time. It is a key area of focus for us, which we intend to continue in the future.”
In the meantime, a third of ETH’s professors in nine different departments are directly or indirectly involved in medical research. Their main activities include basic research, diagnostics, medical technologies and the development of bioactive substances.
For ETH Zurich, however, it is clear that modern medical research cannot be carried out in isolation. ETH researchers therefore work closely with medical faculties at other universities, as well as hospitals and clinics. Personalised medicine in particular requires researchers to work together across disciplines and institutions. For example, computer scientists, who use data analysis and machine learning to advance the field of personalised medicine, play a vital role in medical research.
Focus on personalised medicine
ETH is also actively involved in two new Swiss initiatives to promote personalised medicine. The university plays a leading role in the ETH Board’s Personalized Health and Related Technologies (PHRT) initiative. The goal of this initiative is to improve prevention and treatment, and thus the quality and efficiency of clinical medicine, through individually tailored medical interventions. This autumn, 48 project proposals were reviewed and 27 were selected for funding. The initiative has a total of 50 million Swiss francs at its disposal and researchers from all institutions in the ETH Domain can apply.
PHRT is an extension of the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) launched by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. ETH Zurich plays an active role in a Personalized Health Cluster, which includes university facilities and clinics situated between Basel and Zurich.
Collaboration with hospitals
ETH has been working closely with the University of Zurich and the university hospitals for some years now. Under the umbrella of University Medicine Zurich (HMZ), researchers from ETH Zurich work closely with scientists and clinicians. HMZ promotes lighthouse projects, which are carried out jointly by researchers from the participating institutions. The latest project, SleepLoop, which was presented to the public in November, involved the development of a wearable system that stimulates the brain with an auditive tone to improve sleep quality.
In order to share the knowledge gained from the project with the clinic as quickly as possible, the University launched a new institute in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at the beginning of the year: the Institute of Translational Medicine. Established at the end of 2014, the “Wyss Translation Center”, which is operated jointly by ETH and the University of Zurich, shares a similar goal. Here, the transfer of results from fundamental research to applications for the healthcare sector is also of central importance.
Last but not least, ETH supports the rapid transfer of healthcare technologies into medical practice through the foundation of spin-off companies. Around 20 percent of all of ETH’s patents and spin-offs are based on potential medical applications.
New Bachelor’s in medicine
ETH Zurich is also strengthening its focus on medicine in teaching and education: since the summer, students can also study medicine at the university. The first degree programme started with 100 students. The Bachelor’s degree programme is part of a joint education initiative with the universities of Basel and Zurich, and Universita della Svizzera Italiana. The partner universities will take the graduates into their Master’s programmes.
The curriculum for the Bachelor’s in medicine is based on the new Swiss Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Medical Training, which applies to all medical training courses in Switzerland as of this autumn. The degree content will be supplemented by an ETH-specific immersion in scientific and technical principles.
For a number of years now, ETH has also offered degree programmes that border medicine and technical sciences, such as the Master’s in health sciences and technology with a specialisation in medical technology.
“Medical development is strongly driven by basic research and technology,” says ETH Vice President Detlef Günther. ETH is traditionally strong in these areas and will therefore play an increasingly important role in medicine, particularly by bridging the gap: “Natural sciences, engineering sciences and medicine have different cultures and speak different languages. We are actively bringing these worlds together.”
This article was published in the latest issue of the ETH magazine "life".