2020

Seven ETH researchers can look forward to generous funding for their projects: the European Research Council (ERC) has approved a total amount of around 15 million Swiss francs. Prof. Luico Isa, head of Soft Materials and Interfaces, is one of those researchers.

Prof. Frans A. Spaepen has been appointed honorary doctorate of ETH Zurich for his outstanding contribution to the basic understanding of the structure and properties of melts and amorphous materials, and his significant impact on materials science and applied physics.

Congratulations to Prof. Nicola Spaldin, this year’s winner of the Golden Owl at the D-​MATL. Nicola Spaldin, head of the Materials Theory group, receives the award for her excellent teaching.

It is widely accepted that the thinner the film is, the larger is the role that its interfaces play in setting its functionality. Understanding and engineering the influence of interfaces in the setting of the final state is however difficult because of the limited experimental access to the contribution of an individual interface post-deposition.

Researchers in the Laboratory for Soft and Living Materials, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Bayreuth and the Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS) in Germany, have developed a new model system to study the interaction of lipid membranes and micron sized particles. The model system was used to study when and how microparticles are enveloped by a lipid membrane.

Researchers of the Soft Materials group have been able to show why biological cells can take on such an astonishing variety of shapes: it has to do with how the number and strength of local forces acting on the cell membrane from within. This knowledge feeds into the development of better minimal model systems and artificial cells.

Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand. – is a famous saying attributed to Confucian philosopher Xun Zi, which inspired the latest revision of the bachelor curriculum in Materials Science offered by our Department. The first students are due to start this September, and there is a lot of excitement mixed with apprehension due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, which will likely force us to adapt our teaching approach along the semester.

Nature has intricate ways to enhance the visual efficiency of fly eyes with nanostructured surface coatings. The related proteins were identified and similar nanostructures were synthesized in a collaboration of the University of Geneva and the FERROIC Lab at the ETH Zurich. ― But how on earth does this involve a group focused on abstract physical phenomena happening at space temperature? It's the Materials Department!

Athina Anastasaki, head of Polymeric Materials has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth of 1.5 Million. This will allow her group to develop depolymerization strategies that are based on controlled radical polymerization.

The materials scientist, chemist and world-​renowned tribologist Nicholas Spencer will be retiring soon.