Group Leader
Emma is a British/Swiss scientist who trained in Cambridge, London, Hamilton (Onatario) and Bern before joining the ETH Zürich. She is now a Professor of Mucosal Immunology at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology. She is fascinated by how the immune system works in the context of complex microbial communities, and in applying both wet-lab and computational biology approaches to these problems.
PhD Student
Giorgia is a Swiss/Italian PhD student who completed her studies in New York and Zurich before beginning her doctoral studies at ETH Zürich. She is interested in microbial population dynamics and metabolism in the gut, and is working on developing lab and model-based techniques to evaluate these complex relationships.
Project Manager
Noëmi is a scientist who has worked in infectious disease research in Switzerland and abroad before joining ETH Zürich as a project manager. In her current role she is supporting the Microbiota Engineering project to facilitate research activities across this multi-investigator project.
PhD Student
Swapan studied Biotechnology at the University of Milan-Bicocca and did her ERASMUS internship at the Centre for Misfolding Diseases, University of Cambridge, where she worked as a research assistant before joining Emma Slack's lab as a PhD student. She is working on a NCCR project where she will investigate the role of intestinal antibodies in controlling the non-E.coli components of simplified microbiota.
PhD Student
Ronja is a doctoral student at ETH Zürich and works at the interplay of biomechanics and gastrointestinal physiology. She is applying state of the art imaging techniques to investigate the influence of gastrointestinal diseases on the mechanical properties of the surrounding gut tissue.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Elisabetta Cacace is a shared postdoctoral fellow between the groups of Emma Slack and Shinichi Sunagawa at ETH Zurich since 2023. She obtained her MD and MSc from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy, and her PhD from EMBL Heidelberg. She currently focuses on host-commensal interactions, using a combination of computational and experimental approaches to study nitrogen metabolism in the human gut microbiome.
Technical Specialist
Selma studied Health Sciences and Technology and joined the Mucosal Immunology group for her 2nd Research Project & Master's Thesis. After her graduation she worked as a research associate in the pharmaceutical industry. Now she re-joined the lab as a technical specialist for oral vaccine production.
PhD Student
Elisa obtained her BSc degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Turin and her MSc degree in Molecular Biosciences from the University of Heidelberg. She then joined Emma's group for her PhD, working on a Botnar Research Centre for Child Health project aimed at developing microbiota engineering tools for the treatment of inborn errors of metabolism.
Senior assistant
Milad received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech, and thereafter was working as a researcher in University of Geneva, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Université de Paris. He has now joined the Laboratory for Mucosal Immunology to investigate the biophysics of antibody-bacterial glycan interactions. His research interests are in soft condensed matter, interfaces and biophysics with particular attention to mechanical forces and surface interactions in synthetic and biological systems.
Senior Assistant
Markus wants to understand how the ecology of the gut microbiota and host physiology influence each other, and how we can use this understanding to improve health outcomes. He trained at ETH Zürich and UC San Diego in evolutionary microbiology/quantitative biology.
PhD Student
After completing a Bachelor in Biology at the University of Lausanne, Suwannee continued her studies at ETH Zurich, where she joined the Mucosal Immunology group for her Master's Thesis. After briefly exploring the industry-side of research on the microbiota in a pharmaceutical company, she is now back in the lab to conduct her Ph.D.
Research Associate
Alice completed her PhD in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in Belgium, focusing on the effects of the gut microbiota on the host metabolism. She recently joined Emma Slack’s lab as a research associate, working in collaboration with the start-up PharmaBiome to elucidate the pharmacology, safety and dosing of a novel bacterial drug candidate for reversal of dysbiosis in acute graft-versus-host disease.
Senior Scientist
Yagmur studied biochemistry in Frankfurt, Germany, before completing his PhD at the Institute of Biochemistry at ETH Zürich. After having worked in a biotech company developing glycodesigned antibodies, he joined Emma’s lab as a senior scientist. In his current role he is interested in modalities of antibody-glycan interactions for the development of oral vaccines.
Technician
Before joining the mucosal immunology group, Niina studied environmental sciences and worked as a research technician at the University of Helsinki. She enjoys the international & collegial atmosphere of the group and is fascinated by the connection between microbiomes and health. In her freetime Niina enjoys exploring the great Swiss outdoors (as long as it’s safe) and filling her apartment with succulents.
PhD Student
Tom is a swiss PhD student who completed his Bachelor and Master degree at ETH Zurich. After a year of brain tumor research at the Children's Hospital Zurich, he returned to ETH to pursue his doctoral studies in the mucosal immunology group. His project focuses on elucidating the mechanism behind surface antigen focusing in bacterial infection of the gastrointestinal tract and the lung.
PhD Student
Cheickna is a Malian/German PhD student who trained at Goethe-University Frankfurt (BSc) and at ETH Zurich (MSc). His background is in microbiology, immunology and biochemistry. He is passionate about public health in low-income countries and investigates the role of secretory IgA in combating bacterial gut infections.
Research Technician
Claudia rejoined the group again after a break working as a technician.
PhD Student
Louise completed her M.Sc. in Biotechnology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden before moving to Switzerland in September 2020 to pursue her PhD. As a part of the Microbiota Engineering Project, she aims to develop tools for precise engineering of the gut microflora.
Junior Group Leader
Tim studied in Brisbane and worked at the Institute for Glycomics on the Gold Coast (Australia) and the Hannover Medical School (Germany) before joining the Institute of Microbiology at the ETH Zürich. His research projects cover the intersections of protein biochemistry, enzyme engineering, microbial glycan biosynthesis and synthetic biology. In 2020, Tim joined the Mucosal Immunology lab as junior group leader.
PhD Student, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne
Medical Science Liaison, Novartis (Japan)
Felllow in Clinical Development, Novartis (Switzerland)
PhD Student, Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich
Research Assistant, Igis
Bachelor Student, University College London
Master Student, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich
Research Intern, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich (Mathys Group)
Master Student, Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich
Intern, Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich (Hardt Group)
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Medical Student, ETH Zurich
Research Assistant, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, England)
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
CMC Development Associate, LimmaTech Biologics AG (Schlieren)
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Radio Oncology Research Technician, University Hospital Zurich
PhD Student, University of Sorbonne
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Biomedical Scientist, University Hospital Balgrist
Intern, EPFL
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Intern, Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office
Intern, Nestlé
Lab Assistant, ETH Zurich
Medical Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
PhD Student, Saarland University
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Master Student, ETH Zurich
Bachelor Student, ETH Zurich
Postdoc, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford