Now in its 19th edition, the Biotechnet Summer School on Advanced Biotechnology alternates between locations in Switzerland, Austria in Italy. The 2025 edition will be hosted by the University of Palermo in Palermo, Sicily from September 1 to September 4, 2025.

The summer school provides students with introductory presentations on key topics and application challenges of biotechnology, such as environmental biotech, energy, drug development and delivery, biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and analytics. Professors and researchers from Biotechnet-affiliated universities FHNW, ZHAW, HES-SO, MCI Innsbruck, University of Palermo, and others give short lectures on these topics. In addition, students will form international teams and work in groups to pitch a research project or start-up company.

The event provides many occasions for networking with professors, researchers and students in an informal setting. The city comes alive at night in its narrow streets and has become a favourite destination of the summer school over the years.

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Location of the lectures

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche Università degli Studi di Palermo Aula Mutolo, Edificio 16 Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo PA, Italy.

• Take bus 109 from the Central Station and get off at the stop “Basile-Artale”, from where you can access the Campus and reach the venue.
• Or take metro line A from Central Station Terminal to “Orleans” stop. From there, you can enter the Campus and take the free shuttle to the “Biologia” stop, which is directly in front of the building 16.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

• Arrival in Palermo

Monday, September 1, 2025

• 8.00 Registration
• 8.45 Welcome and opening remarks

Session 1: Organs-on-chip and 3D models - Chair Christoph Griesbeck

• 9.00 Laura Suter Dick, FHNW. Organ on a Chip for multitissue experiments
• 9.30 Riccardo Barrile, University of Cincinnati. From Cells to Systems: Building Human Organs-on-Chips for Drug Discovery.
• 10.00 Giovanni Zito, ISMETT. From 2D to 3D models: new tools to study liver diseases.

10.30 Coffee break

Session 2: Advanced therapies - Chair Eric Kübler

• 11.00 Jack Rohrer, ZHAW. Development of a CAR-NK killing assay.
• 11.30 Vincenzo Cavalieri, University of Palermo. Cell-free therapy with the secretome of stem cells.
• 12.00 Tereza Müllerová, FHNW. Twin‑Column Continuous Chromatography for Viral Vector Gene Therapies.

12.30 Lunch

Session 3: Insights from industry - Chair Georg Lipps

• 14.00 Wolfgang Minas, Biotech Concepts. Biotechnology – going scale-up: Early on considerations and pitfalls.
• 14.30 Gabriele Steiner, Spiegltec.

15.00 Coffee break

Session 4: Synthetic biology and biobanking - Chair Simon Crelier

• 15.30 Wolfgang Merkle, ZHAW. Insights and Progress from a Swiss Micro Biogas Research Plant.
• 16.00 Maike Otto, FHNW. Future Innovators Wanted: The Journey of the FHNW iGEM Team 2025.
• 16.30 Gottfried Dasen, ZHAW. Biobanking for biotech.

18.00 Welcome party

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

 Session 5: Protein design and analytical biotechnology - Chair Jack Rohrer

• 9.00 Georg Lipps, FHNW.  A ___ to Protein Language Models and Protein Design-
• 9.30 Dominik Meinel, FHNW. Harnessing focal molography for affinity and concentration measurements of proteins in complex matrices.
• 10.00 Simon Crelier, HES-SO. Enzymes and organic solvents: old tricks and recent developments.

10.30 Coffee break

Session 6: Nanomedicine and cancer therapy - Chair Laura Suter-Dick

• 11.00 Oya Tagit, FHNW. Translating cancer immunotherapy nanomedicines from lab to clinic.
• 11.30 Simona Campora, University of Palermo. 3D tumor models for cancer research
• 12.00 Patrick Shahgaldian, FHNW. Functional Nanomedicine Through Enzyme Supramolecular Engineering.

12.30 Lunch

Session 7: Insights from industry - Chair Vincenzo Cavalieri

• 14.00 Eric Kubler, STERA Scientific AG. Modern Swine Diagnostics: A Dual Focus on Efficiency and Well-being.
• 14.30 Lauriane Pillet, Lonza. Bioconjugates: from industrial manufacturing at Lonza to therapeutic applications.

15.00 Coffee break

Session 8: Invisible threats and beneficial microbes - Chair Giuseppe Gallo

• 15.30 Marco Rupprich, FHNW. Are PFAS be the new asbestos, and what can we learn from the past?
• 16.00 Christoph Borner, University of Freiburg. Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) - how does it survive in the body of so many humans?
• 16.30 Valeria Villanova, University of Palermo. Revealing microalgal diversity and biotechnological potential in sicilian salt ponds.

17.00 Free evening

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Session 9: Bioprocesses - Chair Nicolas Huguenin-Dezot

• 9.00 Harald Schobel, MCI. SpotLIGHT on Biotechnology: Using light as a tool in bioprocesses.
• 9.30 Giuseppe Gallo, University of Palermo. Streptomycete extracellular membrane vesicles affect growth and differentiation of either bacterial strains and tomato plants.
• 10.00 Caspar Demuth, ZHAW. Advanced sensor technology to enhance bioprocess understanding.

10.30 Coffee break

Session 10: Molecular and applied biotechnology - Chair Gottfried Dasen

• 11.00 Gaspare La Rocca, University of Palermo. MicroRNA-mediated gene regulation in physiology and disease.
• 11.30 Nicolas Huguenin-Dezot, ETH. Towards developing a plasmid-based orthogonal replication system E. coli: Findings and challenges.

12.00 Lunch

Session 11: Insights from industry - Chair Giuseppe Gallo

• 14.00 Maurizio Bettiga, Italbiotech. Dead ideas walking: rescuing them from the valley of death.
• 14.30 Coffee break

Session 12: Student group work

• 15.00 Students will work in groups to develop and pitch an idea for a company to investors, or a project proposal to funding agencies.

17.00 Free evening

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Session 13: Student group presentations (10 minutes plus questions)

• 9.00 Group 1
• 9.15 Group 2
• 9.30 Group 3
• 9.45 Group 4
• 10.00 Group 5

10.15 Coffee break

Session 14: Student group presentations (10 minutes plus questions)

• 10.45 Group 6
• 11.00 Group 7
• 11.15 Group 8
• 11.30 Group 9
• 11.45 Group 10
• 12.00 Prize ceremony and concluding remarks

12.30 End of the summer school