Description
Biotechnet and the HES-SO Institute of Life Sciences were pleased to welcome about 130 students and professors to Sion for the 20th edition of the Summer School on Advanced Biotechnology.
Held from August 31 to September 3, 2026, the event brought together students and lecturers from the HES-SO Institute of Life Sciences, ZHAW’s Institute for Chemistry and Biotechnology as well as its Institute for Computational Life Sciences, the FHNW School of Life Sciences, the University of Palermo, and MCI the Entrepreneurial School.
Highlights included:
- An opening keynote by former Biotechnet president and founder of the summer school Daniel Gygay, showcasing the history of the summer school and Biotechnet as an association
- 26 academic talks on a broad range of biotech topics spanning health, food, energy and environment
- 9 industry talks by sponsors and guest lecturers
- 10 student pitches on either a research project or a biotech company. Congratulations to groups 2, 6 and 5 for their winning presentations - they were awarded HES-SO baseball caps!
- A closing address by Biotechnet president Oya Tagit
A big thank you to Simon Crelier and Alexia Crettenand for leading the organizing the 2026 edition, supported by Laura Rolinger who led the student activity. Thanks also to Alexandre Kuhn, Matthias Rüdt and Sergio Schmid for participating in the organisation of the event, committee and to Laurent Darbellay and his team for the fantastic pictures and coverage. This outstanding team made all participants feel warmly welcome.
Co-organizers Jack Rohrer, Patrick Shahgaldian, Christof Griesbeck, Vincenzo Cavalieri and Giuseppe Gallo coordinated the lectures and students from each of their schools.
We warmly thank sponsors Bioark, Bioengineering, Consortio Italbiotec, Cytiva, Debiopharm, Incyte, Lonza, SGVC, Spielgltec, Swiss Engineering, and Valais4U for making the event possible!
See you in Palermo in 2027!
