ETH News

Prostheses that connect to the nervous system have been available for several years. Now, researchers at ETH Zurich have found evidence that neuroprosthetics work better when they use signals that are inspired by nature.

The loss of myelin sheaths in the brain is a hallmark of multiple sclerosis. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed an MRI method that maps the condition of this nerve insulation layer more accurately than before.

If the body’s natural stress response gets knocked off balance, it can result in physical and mental health disorders. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an agent capable of selectively inhibiting this response.

Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a rare condition in which a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. People affected suffer from muscle weakness and paralysis. A research team led by ETH Zurich has now clarified the mechanism of this autoimmune disease.

ETH Zurich researchers have shown for the first time that microvehicles can be steered through blood vessels in the brains of mice using ultrasound. They hope that this will eventually lead to treatments capable of delivering drugs with pinpoint precision.

The brain’s state of arousal is the key to many stress- and anxiety-related disorders. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now found a way to influence it with a new biofeedback method.

Stimulating the brain with gentle sounds during deep sleep significantly enhances cardiac function, according to a new study. This discovery could have implications not only for cardiovascular diseases but also for competitive sports, among other areas.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that lets them genetically modify each cell differently in animals. This allows them to study in a single experiment what used to require many animal experiments. Using the new method, the researchers have discovered genes that are relevant for a severe rare genetic disorder.

The CRISPR-Cas gene scissors enable researchers to study the genetic and cellular causes of autism in the lab – directly on human tissue.

The way the brain regulates pupil size is different from previously thought: fundamentally responsible is the neurotransmitter orexin, as researchers at ETH Zurich have now shown. This discovery could well alter our understanding of consciousness and illnesses such as narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s.

Our visual perception depends more strongly on the utility of information than previously thought. This has been demonstrated in a series of experiments conducted by researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. Cognitive biases can begin at the retina.

ETH Zurich researchers have developed a smart earpiece that helps people relearn physical actions faster and more easily after a stroke. By stimulating the brain, the earpiece helps it rewire neural circuits.

Life is a constant stream of decisions that pit sober reflection against powerful emotions, conscious deliberation against gut instincts. Using complex models and sophisticated experiments, ETH researchers study how we combine these different decision-making strategies.

Emotional trauma can have far-reaching ripple effects and may even reverberate across generations. Professors Isabelle Mansuy and Katharina Gapp study how the effects of trauma can be inherited through epigenetic mechanisms.

Mental health disorders can only be diagnosed on the basis of symptoms – and individual outcomes cannot be accurately predicted. An ETH scientist hopes to change that with the help of mathematical models.

Researchers at ETH Zurich are growing human brain-like tissue from stem cells and are then mapping the cell types that occur in different brain regions and the genes that regulate their development.

ETH Zurich researchers have developed a model that explains how nerve cells in the brain connect during development. Their model reveals that the crucial factor is progressive cell division. This process leads naturally to the formation of molecular addresses that lets neurons navigate.

As wave specialists, seismologists map the structure of planets from the information that seismic waves carry. Now, the team led by ETH professor Andreas Fichtner is also using this knowledge for medical imaging.

Researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Empa have developed a new material for an electronic component that can be used in a wider range of applications than its predecessors. Such components will help create electronic circuits that emulate the human brain and that are more efficient at performing machine-learning tasks.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss is one of the major private donors for Swiss science. Today, Wyss was celebrated as the laureate of the 2022 Gallatin Award of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have conducted a detailed study of neurulation – how the neural tube forms during embryonic development. They conclude that this happens less actively than previously thought. This also has implications for understanding defects such as spina bifida.

Researchers have developed a new method that uses artificial intelligence to analyse animal behaviour. This opens the door to longer-term in-depth studies in the field of behavioural science – while also helping to improve animal welfare. The method is already being tested at Zurich Zoo.

Researchers have developed a wearable device that plays specific sounds to enhance deep sleep. The first clinical study has now shown that the device is effective, but not at the same level of effectiveness for everyone.

Johannes Bohacek explains why it’s misleading to think we can completely replace animal testing with alternative methods, and why we should lower rather than raise the hurdles to research.

A team of researchers led by ETH Professor Rafael Polanía has shown for the first time that decisions feel right to us if we have compared the options as attentively as possible – and if we are conscious of having done so. This requires a capacity for introspection.

Stanisa Raspopovic connects the digital world of sensors and electrical circuits with the nervous system and its cellular circuits. Now he is the recipient of the 2021 ETH Zurich Latsis Prize.

Chronic stress can decrease the quality of our lives, and have long-term negative effects on our health that may be irreversible. The new Hochschulmedizin Zürich flagship project STRESS aims to explore the causes of stress and highlight possible treatments.

Using novel technology, researchers advance our understanding of anxiety’s connection to brain-body interactions. For the first time, they show how the brain perceives and predicts altered states of breathing; quantifying links between anxiety and the brain’s perception of the body’s inner signals.

Nako Nakatsuka earned a place on this year’s MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 list for her invention of a precise chemical biosensor that empowers researchers to better understand brain processes and diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Major Depression, and Parkinson’s.

From genetics and personalised medicine to health insurance and climate change: at ETH Week 2021, 120 students from all degree programmes and from 31 countries grappled with the topic of “Health for Tomorrow”.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and University of Zurich have developed a new microscopy technique that lights up the brain with high resolution imagery. This allows neuroscientists to study brain functions and ailments more closely and non-invasively.  

ETH Fellow Rodrigo Arzate-Mejia is studying how traumatic life experiences affect the brain, with a focus on epigenetic changes in brain cells.  

Nerve cells communicate with one another via synapses. Neuroscientists at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich have now found that these connections seem to be much more powerful than previously thought.

Mental illnesses do not receive the attention they deserve and they are treated as taboo, writes Gerhard Schratt. Taking a cue from the Green New Deal, he proposes a Grey New Deal.

An extraordinary year is drawing to a close. ETH News takes a look back at the highlights that emerged amidst difficult and unsettling times, at ingenious ideas, fascinating science and solidarity in action during – and despite – the coronavirus pandemic.

ETH researchers have developed a new generation of microelectrode-array chips for measuring nerve impulses, enabling studies of how thousands of nerve cells interact with each other.

Researchers at ETH Zurich – in collaboration with colleagues from EPFL in Lausanne and Harvard Medical School – have developed a system that allows them to optically stimulate individual nerve fibres in living mice. Through this process, they have demonstrated that the nervous system has a direct influence on the immune system.

He can play a computer game using thought alone. Samuel Kunz, who has tetraplegia, is currently training with researchers from Zurich and Singapore for the next Cybathlon.

ETH Zurich aims to step up rehabilitation research and education with the Rehab Initiative. But how are the needs of people with disabilities best met? To discuss the issues, we hosted a roundtable with a physician, a person with a disability and a researcher.

Guy Landolt had just begun a run of solo stand-up shows when, completely out of the blue, he was hit by two strokes within 24 hours. Among other things, the comedian lost the ability to speak. Following intensive training, he’s now back on the stage.

Heinz Frei is one of the most successful Swiss athletes of all time. He has been in a wheelchair since an accident over 40 years ago. Having originally trained as a surveyor, he now works at the Swiss Paraplegic Centre in Nottwil and serves as a Cybathlon Ambassador.

Hands are our most important tools. Many stroke survivors struggle with a serious loss of function in their affected hand. ETH researchers are developing innovative solutions to help people in rehabilitation – and in everyday life.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and other universities have shown that it is possible to predict the risk of relapsing into depression after stopping antidepressant medication. People who relapse take longer to decide how much effort to invest for a reward.

Zebra finches are very efficient at learning their courtship songs, as researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have shown. In the morning, the birds remember the positive learning progress of the previous day, but forget the failures overnight.

Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have shown that chaperone proteins dynamically bind to the Parkinson protein α-synuclein. If this interaction is disturbed, it leads to cell damage and the formation of aggregates typical for the disease.

Two volunteers are the first above-knee amputees in the world to feel their prosthetic foot and knee in real time. Their bionic prosthesis, which was developed by an international team of researchers, features sensors that connect to residual nerves in the thigh. The resulting neurofeedback greatly reduces physical and mental strain for users of the prosthesis.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have shown for the first time that selective release of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline reconfigures communication between large-scale networks in the brain. Their findings provide insights into rapid neural processes that occur in the brain during stressful situations.

ETH researchers are using brain stimulation to investigate the consequences of stress and to find new therapies for treating stress-related psychiatric diseases. One day it may even be possible to cure brain disorders quite literally in our sleep – without taking pills.

ETH researchers have discovered a new mechanism that brain cells use to protect themselves from protein aggregates. Such aggregates play a key role in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. This new finding might provide the basis for new therapeutic approaches.

Rafael Polanía and his team of ETH researchers have developed a computer model capable of predicting certain human decisions. With it, researchers can predict for example which food someone in a supermarket will choose to buy – valuable information for marketing and health.

Songbirds can acquire new abilities both through observation and through trial and error. However, skills acquired with the latter method are more easily adapted to new situations, as scientists at ETH and the University of Zurich have been able to demonstrate. The researchers also see parallels to how children learn.

A new substance makes particular molecules in the brain visible using imaging, enabling better research into brain diseases.

ETH Professor Petros Koumoutsakos wanted to embark on a career at the United Nations. Today, he is one of the world’s leading researchers in the simulation of fluid dynamics using supercomputers.

An international team led by ETH researchers has developed a technique that uses electrical brain signals to more precisely evaluate the effect of drugs on the brain. It could be of particular use in the early development phase of anti-epilepsy medication.

ETH scientists have disproved a decades-old orthodoxy: cerebrospinal fluid does not leave the cranial cavity via blood vessels, but instead through the lymphatic system. This finding has far-reaching implications in new treatments for dementia.

As an international team of scientists has now shown, songbirds are minimalists when it comes to learning a new song. The birds’ learning strategy resembles the methods used by computer scientists for document comparison.

Brain researchers at ETH Zurich and other universities have shown for the first time that a region of the brain associated with empathy only activates very weakly in autistic people. This knowledge could help to develop new therapies for those affected by autism.

The latest study by researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich suggests that excessive consumption of fatty foods could severely disrupt the development of the prefrontal cortex in the maturing brains of young people. This could potentially lead to cognitive defects in later adulthood in areas such as learning and memory, personality and impulse control.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new marker substance for positron emission tomography (PET) that will allow them to monitor the progression of the degenerative muscle disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a patient’s brain.

Behaviors caused by traumatic experiences in early life are reversible. Researchers from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich could demonstrate that environmental enrichment allows trauma-related symptoms in mice to be reversed. This is the first evidence that positive environmental factors can correct behavioral alterations which would otherwise be transmitted to the offspring. 

Injuries to the spinal cord partially or completely disrupt the neural pathways between the brain and the limbs. The consequences for the representation of the affected limbs in the brain can be drastic. ETH researchers have now measured how severely this representation is affected.

Founded in 2015, the new Turing Centre at ETH Zurich brings together researchers and students of science, engineering and humanities. In an interview with ETH News, Managing Director Giovanni Sommaruga and his New Zealand co-directors Diane Proudfoot and Jack Copeland explain why the Centre inspires blue skies research and what it all has to do with ‘child machines’.

Riding the Polybahn from Central up to ETH Zurich with Nicole Wenderoth: the Professor for Neural Control of Movement and head of ETH Zurich’s Institute of Human Movement Science and Sport tells us in a new Polybahn Pitch how she can influence someone else’s brain.

Researchers discovered a new mechanism of how fluorescent proteins can change colour. It enables the microscopic visualization of individual cells in their three-dimensional environment in living organisms.

The spinal cord transmits pain signals to the brain. But not all the impulses arrive at their destination: Certain neurons act as checkpoints and determine whether a pain signal is relayed or not. Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich identified these neurons. Moreover, they developed means to specifically activate these neurons, which reduces not only pain – but astonishingly also alleviates itch.

ETH Zurich is taking part in EIT Health, a new major EU research programme. As part of the project, more than 140 European companies and research institutes are developing solutions for problems in the field of health and old age.

Thomas Wälchli’s goal is to curb the growth of brain tumours. In his doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich, the physician examined how blood vessels develop in the brain, as this process also promotes tumour growth. The scientist developed a technique that allows new insights into the specific developmental stages of blood vessels in the brain.