The preview of the documentary film “The Human Body – the ultimate frontier of complexity” took place at Scientifica, organized by ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, on September 3. The event was met with great interest. The subsequent panel discussion on systems biology gave the public an opportunity to discuss with some of the initiative’s top scientists.

This year’s Scientifica – the science fair jointly organised by ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich – proved to be very popular, with over 30,000 people attending. Several SystemsX.ch researchers from the Department of Biology (ETHZ), the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (ETHZ) and the Department of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (UZH), as well as other institutes, participated in the science fair. SystemsX.ch also contributed directly to the action-packed program with a preview of its documentary film “The Human Body – the ultimate frontier of complexity”. Around 90 people attended the film screening.

In the subsequent panel discussion, Ruedi Aebersold (ETHZ), Adriano Aguzzi (USZ), Detlef Günther (ETHZ) and Lucas Pelkmans (UZH) discussed the film as well as the significance of systems biology research and its possible applications in personalized medicine. "The film allows researchers to reach out to and engage with the general public as well as politicians to show how exciting current research frontiers in the life sciences are," says Ruedi Aebersold. The importance of investing in knowledge, Switzerland’s most important resource, was also emphasized. “The documentary illustrates very well what is possible when we invest in research,” says Aebersold. Adriano Aguzzi also stressed the importance of collaboration between different scientific fields. “If we want to understand life, interdisciplinary research is essential, because Nature is not confined by departmental walls.”

The whole film, along with its individual chapters, can be found at www.systemsx.ch/film.