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January 17, 2025

2024 in Retrospect

The “Biozentrum Highlights 2024” brochure is out now, offering a review of the past year’s achievements by the Biozentrum community.

Panorama view of the Basel old town at the Rhine with the Biozentrum.

 

From tackling nosocomial pathogens to decoding memory storage, Biozentrum scientists made significant advances in the past year. Prof. Urs Jenal’s team, for example, revealed how Pseudomonas aeruginosa exploits goblet cells to breach lung barriers, providing a basis for innovative therapeutic strategies. Prof. Flavio Donato’s research uncovered the brain's mechanism of creating multiple memory "copies", reshaping our understanding of memory dynamics. Meanwhile, Prof. Marek Basler’s lab identified how the intracellular pathogen Burkholderia thailandensis spreads undetected using the Type VI secretion system. And Prof. Ben Engel’s team discovered a protein shell in diatoms essential for efficient CO₂ fixation.

The numerous publications from the Biozentrum labs over the past year reflect the important contributions to advancing scientific knowledge. Knowledge exchange and networking were further boosted by events like the Discovery Seminars and the three-day Biozentrum Retreat at Campus Sursee.

Again, the Biozentrum community celebrated numerous honors and recognitions. Prof. Michael N. Hall received the prestigious Balzan Prize and the Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences for his pioneering work on the protein TOR and its role in cell growth and aging. Prof. Dirk Bumann was elected a member of the prestigious German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and junior scientists received prestigious awards and grants, such as EMBO Fellowships and SNSF Ambizione Fellowships, the Gottfried Schatz PhD Student Prize and Propelling Grants of the University of Basel, just to name a few.

2024 was also a successful year for our Biozentrum spin-offs: Translation-X secured Venture Kick funding to advance its precision medicine approach for autism spectrum disorders, while NXI Therapeutics raised 3.5 million Swiss francs for immunotherapy research. 

Educational activities continued to thrive: the highly competitive Biozentrum PhD Fellowships program attracted over 1,500 applications in the past year. Furthermore, students were offered great opportunities to engage in hands-on research at the Biozentrum, including the "Biozentrum Research Summer" for undergraduate students and the "Basel Summer Science Academy" for high school students from the Basel region. 

Public events like our well-established "Einblicke Biozentrum" lecture series offer fascinating insights into the scientific endeavors at the Biozentrum and strengthen the dialogue between scientists and the public, making complex research topics accessible and sparking curiosity about our work and institute. With the continuation of the NCCR AntiResist and the appointment of new professors bringing fresh expertise, the institute remains focused on advancing scientific discovery. 


Explore the 2024 edition of the “Biozentrum Highlights” brochure. 

Contact: Communications, Katrin Bühler