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Cells constantly process complex signals, be they for survival, metabolism, development, or cell death. Anyone who can spy on this internal communication has a decisive advantage regarding the development of new therapies. Michelle Frei, the new Assistant Professor of Chemical Biology and Molecular Imaging, and her team are developing chemical tools to better visualize and study cellular processes using fluorescent markers. In this article, she introduces herself.

Since 2017, Elvan Kut Bacs has been striving to provide pharmacists with the best possible training for their future tasks, sometimes using unorthodox teaching methods. The lecturer and program coordinator of the Master's program in Pharmacy at D-CHAB has now been awarded the Golden Owl 2024 for her dedicated teaching. In this interview, she reveals what makes good teaching and why fiction can sometimes be helpful, especially in fact-based science.

This year's annual ranking of the world's most cited researchers by Clarivate lists 6,886 researchers who have strongly influenced their own or several research areas through their publication activities. The list contains the most cited publications of the last ten years. Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Maksym Kovalenko and Gisbert Schneider (D-BSSE, D-CHAB) are among the 22 highly cited researchers at ETH Zurich. 

The prize for the most promising invention of the past year goes to Marie Amélie Perrin and Victor Mougel. They have developed a method that enables rare earth elements to be efficiently recovered from electrical waste.

As part of the ETH Day 2024 celebrations, Dr. Miguel Steiner received the IBM Research Award 2024 for his dissertation on navigating the catalytic reaction space with automated and controlled mechanism exploration approaches. The prize, sponsored by IBM Research Zurich Laboratory, is awarded alternately to outstanding master's and doctoral theses in the fields of computational chemistry, physics, biology and materials science.

Scott E. Denmark studied Chemistry at the MIT and ETH Zurich. In 1987, he became professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. Four years later he was named the Reynold C. Fuson Professor of Chemistry. Now, on ETH Day 2024, Scott E. Denmark has been awarded the honorary doctorate of ETH Zurich for the development of new catalysis concepts and useful synthesis methods as well as detailed mechanistic and stereochemical studies of preparatively important reactions.

With the PHOENIX Pharmacy Science Award, the PHOENIX group promotes outstanding pharmaceutical research in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and thus strengthens the pharmaceutical value chain in the long term. Among this years winners is Jean-Christophe Leroux. He receives the prize for the development of an artificial suction cup that is placed in the oral cavity and can deliver medication. The method can replace the drug delivery via syringes. Check out the video following the link. 

The Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Program (ESOP) at ETH Zurich supports outstanding students every year. They are among the best and receive support from the donors of ETH Foundation for their Master's studies to concentrate on their studies. In this article, the four new Excellence Scholars at D-CHAB introduce themselves. Get to know Urs Keller, Daniel Isler, Angela Spadea and Filip Hůlek.

The Laboratory of Organic Chemistry awards the 2024 Prelog Medal and Lectureship to Prof. Dr. Sarah E. O’Connor (Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology, Jena) honoring her outstanding research on the chemistry and biochemistry of plant natural products, with emphasis on the elucidation of metabolic pathways and engineering of novel routes and compounds for biomedical applications. At the  Lecture on Nov. 18, 2024, Prof. O'Connor will discuss Harnessing the chemistry of plants and beyond.