News and Activities
mTORUS project (Microbiome-based Therapeutic Options for Recurrent Urinary Symptoms)
"The LOOP Zürich" finances a groundbreaking project about the role of the bladder microbiome in urinary tract infections. Outcomes are expected to enable a more precise treatment of these infections.
https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/12/more-precise-treatment-loop.html
Synthetic phages with programmable specificity
ETH researchers are using synthetic biology to reprogram bacterial viruses – commonly known as bacteriophages – to expand their natural host range. This technology paves the way for the therapeutic use of standardized, synthetic bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections.
Article in ETH News
Phage report (German only)
Resistant germs - when antibiotics lose their effect
Report in SRF PLUS
external page https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/redirect/detail/9894899d-ad3b-4acb-b20a-27edd5d10cb7?startTime=1698
Using viruses against fire blight in fruit trees (German only)
Article in NZZ
external page https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/biologie/obstbaeume-schonend-behandeln-mit-viren-gegen-den-feuerbrand-erreger-ld.1300376
Werkbank für das Virendesign / Workbench for virus design
ETH researchers have developed a technology platform that allows them to systematically modify and customize bacteriophages. This technology is a step towards making phage therapies a powerful tool for combating dangerous pathogens
external page https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180206100331.htm
Newspaper article about viruses as killers of bacteria (German only)
21 suggestions on what to do with food after the expiration date (German only)
Throw away food after the expiration date? Food Microbiologist Martin Loessner explains
external page https://www.srf.ch/news/panorama/21-tipps-wozu-abgelaufene-lebensmittel-noch-taugen
ETH Zurich researchers develop phage therapy improvements to target antibiotic-resistant bacteria in deep tissue (German only)
Miraculous proliferation
ETH News article on our L-form research
https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2016/12/miraculous-proliferation.html
FEI Annual Assembly
Martin Loessner talks at the annual meeting of the Research Association of the German Food Industry titled "Impulses for Production and Processes of Tomorrow"
external page http://www.fei-bonn.de/veranstaltungen-termine/jahrestagungen/jahrestagung-2016
Viruses against resistant bacteria
Questions and answers about antibiotics
Martin Loessner andUrs Karrer in the external page SRF PULS Expert Chat
Are phages the solution for the antibiotic crisis?
Viruses of Microbes EMBO conference
The Food Microbiology Group has organized the third EMBO conference "Viruses of Microbes" from July 14-18 of 2014 at ETH Zurich. More details can be found here.
What is living on fruit and vegetables
(TV contribution in Switzerland, no English version available)
Vor dem Essen waschen: Das gilt nicht nur für die Hände, sondern auch fürs Obst und Gemüse – das lernt bereits jedes Kind. Zuhause lässt sich die Regel noch leicht befolgen, unterwegs wird`s schon schwieriger mit frisch gewaschenem Obst und Gemüse. external page Weiterlesen.
New anthrax-killing virus from Africa is unusually large
From a zebra carcass on the plains of Namibia in Southern Africa, an international team of researchers has discovered a new, unusually large virus (or bacteriophage) that infects the bacterium that causes anthrax. external page Continue reading.
Lipid vesicles to replace mouse experiments
Researchers from ETH Zurich have filed a patent application for a method to test the biological activity of one of the strongest toxins known, the botulinum neurotoxin. If the procedure is adopted by the pharmaceutical industry, it could save the lives of more than half a million experimental mice per year. Continue reading.
Amoeba feast on backpacks
The amoeba Acanthamoeba cunningly traps motile bacteria, collecting them in a rucksack before devouring the whole backpack. This behaviour of the single-cell organisms is unique. Continue reading.