Primary and stem cells are becoming important sources for the generation of organotypic tissue models used in many biopharmaceutical applications, regenerative medicine, disease modelling and drug discovery. They promise to revolutionize the drug discovery process at all stages, from target identification through to toxicology studies.

A secure supply of food around the globe is not to be taken for granted. On the one hand the world population is growing fast, about 230’000 people per day, on the other hand climate change as well as rapidly spreading diseases block the production of food dramatically. Crop losses in the largest growing areas amount globally to 30%. Cellular agriculture focusing on the sustainable production of agriculture products from cell cultures in a laboratory instead of using livestock may provide a solution.
 

“The road to success consists in teaming up with the right partners”.

For years, researchers led by Professor Fabian Fischer at HES-SO Valais have been concentrating on microbial fuel cells, also called bio-electrochemical systems, which use electrogenic bacteria to generate electricity. Their latest innovation is a device consisting of about 14 metres of joined-up microbial fuel cells, housed in the ‘catacombs’ – a series of underground tunnels – beneath the wastewater treatment plant in Sion. It uses bio-electrogenic rather than aerobic microbes for the primary purpose of producing energy and purified water, but also to save electricity.
 

Le secteur de la santé et des sciences de la vie croît inexorablement. C’est aujourd’hui une industrie qui pèse plusieurs milliards de dollars. En 2016, les entreprises actives dans ce domaine ont affiché des ventes à hauteur de 140 milliards de dollars et leurs bénéfices ont plus que doublé par rapport à 2010. Les secteurs pharmaceutique, chimique, ainsi que ceux des technologies médicales et du dépistage, sont devenus la principale industrie d’exportation de la Suisse.

The healthcare and life science sector is growing inexorably and is now a multi-billion dollar industry. In 2016 the companies in this sector posted sales of USD 140 billion, and their profitability more than doubled by comparison with 2010. The pharmaceutical, diagnostics, medtech and chemical sectors have become Switzerland’s most powerful export industry and significant number of approved medications and diagnostics contain biotech elements.
 

A happy coincidence brought Dr Markus Rimann from ZHAW Waedenswil together with Dr Andreas Meyer from the start-up FGen and PD Dr Emanuela Felley-Bosco, Molecular Oncologist at Zurich University Hospital, to develop a technology platform for the manufacture and high throughput analysis of single mesothelioma spheroids. Armin Picenoni, former student in Chemistry for the Life Sciences at ZHAW, confirmed everything in writing his Master Thesis on this Innosuisse project.

Bioprinting is the technology of choice for realizing functional tissues such as vascular system, muscle, cartilage and bone. In the future, bioprinting will influence the way we engineer tissues and bring it to a new level of hysiological relevance. That was the topic of the 2017 TEDD Annual Meeting at ZHAW Waedenswil on 8th and 9th November. In an exciting workshop, the two companies regenHU Ltd. and CELLINK gave us an insight into highly topical applications and collaborations in this domain.

When an innovative technology is going to be implemented in hospitals, medical practices or pharmacies, it often does not appear really new to researchers. It is the implementation itself and the domain where it is used that are at the core of innovation. That’s why the SWISS SYMPOSIUM in Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) brings together key stakeholders from research and industry to clinical settings and patient care to exchange knowledge and experience and to stimulate activities in POCD.
 

It was a daring venture when Professor Fabian Fischer, lecturer in chemistry and biotechnology at HES-SO Valais/Wallis, organized a Microbial Fuel Cell Workshop at EXPO 2017 in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. This first world exhibition to be held in Central Asia (from 10 June to 1 September) is dedicated to ‘Future Energy’ and showcased Switzerland as an innovative country for energy efficiency, renewable energies and global water management.