Welcome to the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering

 

The Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) is combining biological, engineering and computational approaches to analyze complex bio-molecular networks.

An important task of such a systems biology effort is a comprehensive collection of quantitative experimental data for a better integration and interpretation through mathematical modeling. This mission of systems biology needs to be complemented by a systematic engineering of the biological systems, thereby permitting a precisely targeted manipulation, for instance, for applications in drug development. Indeed, the emerging field of synthetic biology is developing as the technological complement to systems biology. While systems biology has evolved from molecular biology and bioinformatics, synthetic biology will expand the field of bioengineering by establishing the basis for much more predictable outcomes of systems perturbations and manipulations. Knowledge of synthetic biology will permit synthesizing entire biological networks in a rational and systematic way. D-BSSE exploits synergies between systems and synthetic biology for a deeper understanding of complex biological networks in order to harness the power of biological systems for medical and industrial applications in the longer term.

D-BSSE will entertain international high-level research at the interface of both (i) analysis and design and (ii) computation and experimentation. The key feature of D-BSSE will be the unique combination of Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology. The long-term goal of D-BSSE is to build up a center in this area that is leading in Europe and is one of the major institutions worldwide. D-BSSE is embedded in a unique environment of excellent systems biology research institutions in Switzerland, coordinated by the SystemsX.ch initiative.

D-BSSE offers a great opportunity to foster a highly productive intellectual and collaborative exchange between the renounced faculty in the natural sciences and engineering of the ETH Zurich and the strong community of life scientists working in the academic and industrial setting of the Basel area. The special alliance will be of great value bringing D-BSSE closer to a more comprehensive view of complex biological systems, which is essential for more predictable inventions in medical applications.