New Swiss Research Centers
New Swiss Research Centers
The Swiss Minister Didier Burkhalter has presented eight new research centers today, the 15th of April. An important announce for research in the Lake Geneva region, it underscores the cutting-edge competences of the region’s institutions—for among the eight national projects, four are shared between institutions along the lake from Geneva to Lausanne. UNIGE, UNIL, and EPFL will benefit from around 58 million Swiss francs over the next three years from this collaboration that supports excellence in chemical biology, neuroscience, robotics, and social sciences. For more information about these National Centers of Competences in Research (NCCR), visit the website of the Federal Department of Home Affairs.
NCCR “Robotics”
A rapidly aging population requires technology that increases their autonomy and mobility well into old age—the demand for these kinds of robots will surely increase. This center will develop interactive “helper” robots, a new generation of intelligent machines that perform tasks for people in their everyday environments and safely co-exist with them. And while most of today’s robots are designed according to engineering concepts used for manufacturing plants, they are not optimal for building robots that have to perform in a home environment. To achieve the grand goal of developing helper robots, fundamental breakthroughs in technology, materials, and control methods will be required. An NCCR constitutes an ideal and timely platform for creating the desired synergies bearing the potential of a quantum leap in robotic technology and further strengthening Switzerland’s already strong international position and visibility in human-oriented robotics. The NCCR will capitalize on the Swiss tradition in micro-engineering, precise manufacturing, and human-friendly technology, creating tremendous opportunities for knowledge and technology transfer at a point in history when developing robots with a human orientation is in a situation strategically similar to that of the nascent personal-computer industry 30 years ago.
NCCR “Synaptic bases of mental diseases”
This NCCR targets an open dialogue between researchers in neuroscience and psychiatry through common projects. By creating a platform for cutting edge technology in brain imaging, genetics, and behavior studies, the center will explore the molecular and cellular origins of mental illness. In an intense collaboration between researcher and clinicians from the Lake Geneva region (EPFL, UNIL, UNIGE, and CHUV) as well as several groups from Basel, this NCCR will set up an important center that will educate experts of a new generation—psychiatrists with a solid background in the neurosciences.
NCCR “Chemical Biology”
The goal of this new center is to use new chemistry techniques to study the living organism. Contrary to traditional biochemistry, where researchers work on extracted cells, the scientist working at this NCCR will explore living cells in their environment thanks to recent developments in diagnostic tools. One of their goals will be to concentrate on cell signaling, a field of research that promises to discover the early mechanisms that lead to certain diseases. The study of cell membranes will also be an important field of study within the new center—such studies should increase understanding of the receptivity of therapeutic molecules in patients. Finally, the researchers will also establish an academic platform for the study of inhibitors, a first step towards finding new medication.