In his role as ETH President, Ralph Eichler was the first Chairman of the SystemsX.ch Board of Directors. "Today, breakthroughs in biological research are increasingly possible thanks to the cooperation of different disciplines."

The second half of the 20th century was the heyday of molecular biology. By incorporating chemistry and physics into their research, scientists came to grips with the atoms of life. They examined individual genes and proteins and tried to understand their meaning.

Towards the end of the millennium, however, there was a paradigm shift. No longer were individual biological components of central interest, but the system as a whole. And so systems biology was born.

This type of research requires close collaboration between experts from various disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, computer science and engineering. "This cooperation creates new approaches to therapies for serious illnesses and problems arising in old-age, as well as new engineering solutions that find practical applications in our everyday lives", says former ETH President, Ralph Eichler.

Contact: Ralph Eichler, ralph.eichler(at)ethz.ch, +41 56 441 99 34