The list doesn't stop there, but it's the essence of what we do, and we love it. Nothing beats the thrill of discovery, and as a bonus we sometimes discover things that contribute to human wellbeing.
Our lab specializes in automated microscopy, which allows us to take many pictures of cells doing their thing in different conditions. We use image analysis and machine learning to make sense of the results.
Big data analysis is key to identify the critical signals and build predictive quantitative models. Sometimes available methods fall short and we end up developing new statistical methods.
All models we build should tell us something that we did not know before. This can send us into unexpected directions, such as enabling us to predict the responses of patient samples to different signals.
Together with a great team of people at the Center for Molecular Medicine, allcyte, the Medical University of Vienna, and the University Hospital of Zurich we are working hard on bringing the power of automated microscopy to the clinic. We call the technology Pharmacoscopy.
Using Pharmacoscopy we can test hundreds of drugs on small blood or tissue samples from individual people, and actually see what each drug does to each individual donor cell, be it healthy or cancerous.
We believe Pharmacoscopy may identify those drugs that help patients battle their cancers. For leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas we are collecting the data to test this hypothesis.
The single-cell resolution allows to compare drug killing of cancer cells with that of healthy donor cells, and to measure the drug-effects on immune-mediated cancer cell killing, ensuring we identify potent treatments.
Pharmacoscopy uses the same markers that clinicians use to diagnose different cancers, and it is compatible with blood samples, bone-marrow biopsies, and excised lymph nodes, making the technology widely applicable.
Unlike many competing methods to identify optimal therapies for individual patients, Pharmacoscopy produces results within days from getting the sample, meaning we can be helpful also in accute circumstances.
From small patient and donor biopsies Pharmacoscopy can measure thousands of different conditions, allowing us to test many drugs in repeat tests and at different concentrations.
We are always looking for highly motivated people to join our team!
Get in touch if you are interested.
Still not clear who we are and what we do? Or do you have other questions? Perhaps your questions are answered below, but don't hesitate to contact us if they're not.
We are a publicly funded laboratory headed by Prof. Dr. Berend Snijder at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology of the ETH Zurich in Switzerland. We are Systems Biologists, which in practice means that we combine large-scale cell biological experimentation with big data analysis and computational modeling. We do this to improve our ability to measure key aspects of cell biology, and to improve our understanding of life in health and disease.
Our research is supported by public funding, which means we have a strong mandate to give back to society. Our funding includes an SNF Förderungsprofessur and an ERC Starting Grant:
I'm glad you asked. We enjoy several great web comics that are all "mostly" safe for work:
We are always looking for enthusiastic people to join our team. Check the members section, we currently have several vacancies that we are looking to fill. Please apply by e-mailing your CV and an explanation of your motivation to Berend Snijder.