BioTrib ETH Zurich ESRs Alessio Amicone and Elisa Bissacco, as well as other colleagues from ETH Zurich and from different research institutions, had the great opportunity to attend The Lab Networking event that took place on Friday, May 20th at Empa [1]. The Empa is the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, a fascinating and inspiring place in St. Gallen that generates top-notch research. The event was organized by the Young Scientists that are part of the Swiss Society for Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine (SSB+RM).
Following a welcome presentation that introduced the guests to Empa and specifically to activities in the department “Materials meet Life”, a guided lab tour allowed visitors to observe and learn about a variety of high-quality ongoing research at Empa, such as Hydrogel-composites in medicine, textile sensors, and implants & in vitro tissue models. To give an example, researchers at Empa have succeeded in creating optic sensor fibers that work perfectly in textiles. This could be very useful for hospitals that might use this information to see if a patient is developing pressure sores.
A networking session followed it, during which Empa-researchers showed their most recent work on posters and scientists had the opportunity to debate and exchange ideas with them.
“This visit was a great illustration of how interesting it can be to explore beyond your own study areas and see what is going on in other research fields, particularly how other disciplines evolve. It was also a great chance to network with other scientists working in the fields of biomaterials and regenerative medicine, whether from academia or specialized research institutions”, says Alessio. Elisa adds “It was a fantastic opportunity to tour Empa’s laboratory, to learn about their equipment instrumentation, and several applications in various fields.”
[1] https://www.empa.ch/web/empa/
This article was written by Alessio Amicone as part of an ongoing series of scientific communications written and curated by BioTrib’s Early Stage Researchers.
Alessio is investigating the Elucidation of Friction-Induced Failure Mechanisms in Fibrous Collagenous Tissues at ETH Zürich, Switzerland.