Meet the team

Our Amazing Team

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Prof. Dr. Emma Slack

Group Leader

Emma is a British/Swiss scientist who trained in Cambridge, London, Hamilton (Ontario) and Bern before joining the ETH Zürich. She is now a Professor of Mucosal Immunology at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, as well as at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, at the University of Oxford. She believes that difficult scientific problems, like understanding how the immune system in the intestine can influence microbiome composition and function, require a creative team of individuals collaborating closely across disciplines to solve them. These brilliant scientists need a safe, happy space to push the boundaries of knowledge, where they know that we are all there to support each other. So, while she still likes to get into the lab and get involved, she is also committed to leading a research group that reflects these values.

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Swapan Preet

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.

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Elisa Cappio Barazzone

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.

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Cheickna Diawara

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.

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Dr. Giorgia Greter

Pioneer Fellow

Giorgia is a Swiss/Italian postdoctoral researcher who recently finished her PhD in the Slack Lab, studying microbe-host interactions in the gut. She is currently working as a Pioneer Fellow in the development of a biotech startup, Baxiva. She aims to commercialize a next-gen vaccine technology to prevent bacterial pathogenic infections.

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Kateryna Vershynina

Intern

Kateryna Vershynina studied at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" (Industrial biotechnology) and is now an intern, working with Dr. Tim Keys on the purification of glycopolysaccharides.

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Suwannee Ganguillet

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.

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Dr. Sebastian Hummel

Postdoctoral Researcher

Sebastian is a trained mathematician with a BSc and MSc from TU München and a PhD from Bielefeld University. Prior to joining the lab, he worked at UC Berkeley on probability theory, population genetics, and immunology. Together with Markus Arnoldini he develops a mathematical model to identify parameter ranges that enable cooperation among gut bacteria, with the goal of informing targeted microbiota engineering.

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Louise Larsson

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.

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Tom Kloter

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.

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Dr. Ronja Rappold

Postdoctoral Researcher

Ronja has recently finished her PhD in the Slack/Vogel group and is now a postdoctoral researcher working 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.

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Dr. Yagmur George Turgay

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.

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Selma Aslani

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.

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Niina Ruoho

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.

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Dr. Annika Hausmann

SNSF Ambizione Group Leader

Annika studied Molecular Medicine in Bonn and Freiburg (DE). She trained in Zürich (CH) and Copenhagen (DK) in mucosal immunology, host-microbe interactions and epithelial repair mechanisms in intestinal inflammation. Annika is fascinated by how our intestinal mucosa manages to maintain a stable relation with commensal microbes, while protecting us against enteropathogen infections at the same time. Annika´s Epithelium-Microbiota Crosstalk subgroup joins the Mucosal Immunology lab in Fall 2024.

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Dr. Markus Arnoldini

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.

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Dr. Alice de Wouters d'Oplinter

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.

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Dr. Noëmi Rebecca Meier

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.

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Dr. Tim Keys

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.

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Dr. Elisabetta Cacace

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.

Alumni

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Dr. Kathrin Moor (PhD Student)

Regulatory Affairs Specialist, University Hospital Zurich

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    Sara Berent (Master Student)

    PhD Student, Immunology, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne

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    Naomi Dünki (Master Student)

    Medical Science Liaison, Novartis (Japan)

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    Tobias Geiser (Bachelor Student)

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    Dr. Corina Matthew (Postdoc)

    Clinical Research Manager, Novartis (Switzerland)

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    Basak Corak (Master Student)

    PhD Student, Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich

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    Daria Künzli (Master Student)

    Research Assistant, Igis (Switzerland)

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    Alicia Halbach (Intern)

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    Katja Sommer (Intern)

    Master Student, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich

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    Helena Schmitt (Master Student)

    Migros Industry Management Trainee (Switzerland)

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    Ioana Domocos (Semester Project Student)

    Research Associate, Roche (Switzerland)

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    Elena Melgarejo Ros (Semester Project Student)

    Scientist, Roche (Switzerland)

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    Julien Huttman (Semester Project Student)

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    Nina Zuber (Intern)

    Medical Student, ETH Zurich

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    Raffael Schumann (Research Assistant)

    PhD Candidate, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, England)

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    Lucas Piech (Master Student)

    PhD Student, Max Perutz PhD Fellowship, Max Perutz Labs, Austria

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    Ursina Enz (Semester Project Student)

    PhD Student, Hardt Lab, ETH Zurich

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    Gianna La Regina (Semester Project Student)

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    Julien Chabbey (Semester Project Student)

    Lab Assistant, University of Zurich

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    Dr. Daniel Hoces Burga (PhD Student)

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University (USA)

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    Joelle Kägi (Master Student)

    Clinical Research Associate II, AO Foundation (Switzerland)

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    Till Germerdonk (Intern)

    PhD Student, ETH Zurich

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    Erica Faccin (Research Technician & Laboratory Manager)

    Radio Oncology Research Technician, University Hospital Zurich

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    Stefanie Oswald (Intern)

    Mechanical Engineer, Ypsomed AG, Burgdorf

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    Michael Berger (Semester Project Student)

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    Tea Sonicki (Intern)

    PhD Student, University of Sorbonne (France)

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    Ali Ahmed (Master Student)

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    Florian Stückelberger (Master Student)

    Analyst, Xlife Sciences

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    Benjamin Meier (Semester Project Student)

    PhD Candidate, Immunology, ETH Zurich

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    Kai Hofmänner (Master Student)

    PhD Candidate, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice

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    Patrizia Burkhard (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Caroline Xu (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Nina Maire (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Jens Scheidegger

    Biomedical Scientist, University Hospital Balgrist, Zurich

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    Valentina Monnerat (Master Student)

    Intern, EPFL

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    Johanna Zehnder (Master Student)

    PhD Candidate, University Hospital Zurich

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    Isabella Aigner (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Jasmine Kaur (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Paula Düllmann (Master Student)

    Intern, Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office

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    Sofia Sponda (Master Student)

    Trainee, Nestlé (Switzerland)

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    Shirin de Viragh (Intern)

    Medical Student, ETH Zurich

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    Jana Näf (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Jacqueline Rehner (PhD Exchange Student)

    PhD Student, Saarland University (Germany)

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    Nadia Yorke (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Eva Rigendinger (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Michelle Knecht (Semester Project Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Despoina Dimakou (Semester Student)

    Master Student, ETH Zurich

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    Paula Wagner (Semester Project Student)

    Bachelor Student, ETH Zurich

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    Dr. Jackie Raïssa Ndem (PhD Student)

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    Dr. Verena Lentsch (PhD Student)

    Postdoctoral Researcher, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford

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    Claudia Moresi (Lab Manager)

    Teacher

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    Dr. Milad Radiom (Senior Assistant)

    Oberassistent, Group of Prof. Raffaele Mezzenga, Laboratory of Food & Soft Materials