SEP Life Sciences and Medical Engineering

Overview
Life Science and Medical Engineering are generally considered to be the sciences of the 21st century. Together with the University of Zürich, the Functional Genomics Center Zürich (FGCZ) was established, an infrastructure and center of expertise with a focus on the function and regulation of the (decoded) genes, on proteomics and on bioinformatics (see overview below).

In Medical Engineering this SEP supports large scale research projects in tissue engineering and imaging research. A master's program in biomedical engineering will also emerge from this SEP.

The excellent collaboration between ETH, the University of Zürich, and the Hospital of the University of Zürich (USZ) in this field is one of the strong assets of this SEP (see also biomedical engineering overview below).

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Functional Genomics Center Zürich (FGCZ)
The FGCZ came into existance in February 2002 with the mission to establish technologies and expertise in the field of functional genomics. To date, eight experts in the fields of transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, supported by an administrative staff, establish technologies and provide training to research scientists in Zürich.

Technological platforms established comprise a high quality facility for the production of custom microarrays, as well as a commercial high-density oligonucleotide GeneChip system. A row of ion-trap mass spectrometers, together with specialized mass spectrometry equipment (Q-TOF), as well as systems for the study of protein interactions, are used in a wide variety of proteomics projects. Together with the FGCZ's infrastructure in robotics and automation, these technologies constantly expand the range of projects which benefit from the technology and expertise provided.

A total of 87 research projects have been started at the Center since the beginning of 2002. From the ongoing projects, several have already reached publication in major scientific journals. Furthermore, the support provided to the local scientific community has been expanded towards teaching and training courses in the practical use of the technologies, as well as to computer-supported data analysis.

The immediate future of the FGCZ will concentrate on the completion of the series of technologies needed to cover the majority of research questions in functional genomics and will also be focused on the establishment of large heterogeneous data collections and the bioinformatical tools needed to exploit them.

Dr. Ralph Schlapbach

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Medical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering (BME) is an interdisciplinary field in which the principles of mathmatics, engineering, and physics are applied to medical and biological research and clinical practice. The work in BME is motivated by the goal of improving human health through the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. The goal of this SEP is to develop an internationally-recognized integrated Biomedical Engineering Program. The traditionally strong collaboration between ETH, the University of Zurich, and the University Hospital in the field of Biomedical Engineering is one of the most valuable assets of this SEP.

The following programs are currently being supported:

Novel MRI Methods for Diagnosis of Cardiovascular and Neurological Disease

• The continued quest to improve the Magnetic Resonance (MR) data acquisition process has led to significant increases in scan efficiency of dynamic processes such as a beating heart and activated brain areas. Further work has focused on verifying theoretical advantages of parallel imaging (SENSitivity Encoding) at higher static magnetic field strengths. For this purpose, a collaboration with the high field MR center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, USA, was established. First results already confirm the expected increase in performance of parallel and correlation imaging (SENSE, k-t-Blast, k-t-SENSE) at higher fields.

• A Coil Laboratory was established where custom-designed MR receive antennas for special high resolution and high field applications are manufactured. Using dedicated equipment, a first phased array coil was built and successfully tested.

• A number of collaborations have been established or expanded upon to make these recent developments in MR imaging and spectroscopy available to the basic and applied science research community. Among these projects is a collaboration with Prof. Yiannis Ventikos at the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies to measure and model the dynamics of the cerebro-spinal fluid.

Load Regulated Genes in Trabecular Bone

• Mechanical loading is perhaps the most important single physiologic/environmental factor regulating bone mass and shape. Age related bone loss and the consequent osteoporosis have been attributed, at least in part, to a reduction in muscle mass/function and the resultant decrease in mechanical usage of the skeleton. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that mechanical overloading results in enhanced bone formation and a net gain in cancellous bone mass, the major structural component of skeletal load bearing sites. However, very little is known about the mechanisms involved in the load-induced anabolic effect in trabecular bone, mainly due to the lack of in vivo models to study load-induced molecular events. Therefore, our long-term objective is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the osteogenic anabolic effect of mechanical loading and to find genes that are regulated by mechanical loading. To this end, the immediate goal of the proposed research program is to establish a mouse model to study load-induced anabolic activity in trabecular bone.

Also emerging from this SEP will be the creation of a Graduate School in Biomedical Engineering. In the first stage, a master's program in Biomedical Engineering (MS-BME) will be offered with tracks envisaged in the areas of Biocomputing, Bioimaging, Biomechanics, Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering and Bioinstrumentation. This program will provide the needed training for students interested in a career in technology-oriented biological and medical research and industry.

Dr. Marcy Wong