EPFL School of Life Sciences

Congratulations to EPFL Brain Mind Institute professors Mackenzie Weygandt Mathis, PhD and Alexander Mathis on their well-deserved promotion to Associate Professor! 🍾 https://lnkd.in/dwNgJBYd

Find out about our Green Labs initiative, a six-month sustainability program to equip researchers to identify and reduce the environmental impact of daily lab practice 🧪 💚 The initiative was developed by Sustainability Managers from EPFL School of Life Sciences, EPFL School of Engineering, and EPFL School of Basic Sciences: Mai-Phuong Dinh, Anna Kounina and Tomoko Muranaka. Also participating are labs from EPFL ENAC and EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ehMjK8KX

AI has proven highly useful for generating new protein structures, and most systems are very powerful at producing static “snapshots” of proteins. However, the movements that govern their function are not taken into account, even though they influence how proteins interact with other molecules. To better capture this dynamic behavior, scientists from the EPFL School of Life Sciences and the EPFL School of Engineering have developed a new AI-based generative framework called LD-FPG (Latent Diffusion for Full Protein Generation). This approach can generate complete, all-atom structural ensembles of proteins and their movements. Want to know more? Check out our news article: https://lnkd.in/e_CZbSXm --- L'IA se révèle très utile pour générer de nouvelles structures protéiques, et la plupart des systèmes sont très puissants pour la production d’«instantanés» statiques de protéines. Néanmoins, les mouvements qui régissent leur fonction ne sont pas pris en compte alors qu'ils influencent les interactions d’une protéine avec d’autres molécules. Pour mieux prendre en compte cette dynamique, des scientifiques de la Faculté des sciences de la vie et de la Faculté des sciences et techniques de l’ingénieur ont développé un nouveau cadre génératif basé sur l’IA, baptisé LD-FPG (Latent Diffusion for Full Protein Generation). Cette approche permet de générer des ensembles structuraux complets de protéines composés entièrement d’atomes ainsi que de leurs mouvements. Pour en savoir plus: https://lnkd.in/egw89YnQ

Good luck to all three EPFL finalists. Proud to see life sciences topics so well explained. Looking forward to Thursday. Join us ! Camille Lambert Antoni Gralak Mehdi Ali Gadiri

The abstract deadline is fast approaching for the Graduate Student Symposium 2026, taking place on 2–3 July 2026 in Cambridge, UK. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the symposium, co-organized by PhD students from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) and the EPFL School of Life Sciences. It brings together graduate researchers from across the world to showcase cutting-edge work in: - Neuroscience - Cell Biology - Immunology - Nucleic Acids - Structural Biology Why attend? Present your research through talks or posters with an honourary Mark Troll student prize given for the best student talk (£1,000 GBP cash prize and £2,000 GBP funding for international conferences or internships to be used within 2 years) Participate in a 3-minute thesis competition Attend interactive workshops Network with leading scientists and fellow PhD students Enjoy social events in one of the world’s top academic hubs Special for EPFL students: FREE registration FREE lodging with an LMB student (subject to availability) 📅 Abstract submission deadline: 31 May 2026 ⏰ General admission deadline: 26 June 2026 👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eNCAZkwM ❓For more information: https://lnkd.in/e7sSddpP

Congratulations to Luca Fusar Bassini, PhD student at EPFL, for being named to the 2026 Forbes Italia Under 30 list in the Science & Healthcare category 🎉 🎉 🎉 The Forbes Italia Under 30 list highlights young innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, and creatives shaping the future across multiple sectors. Working in the lab of Gioele La Manno, Luca develops computational and AI-driven approaches to study the brain through large-scale omics, microscopy, and dynamic modeling. His recent work includes the “Lipid Brain Atlas”, a high-resolution spatial map of the mouse brain and defines hundreds of distinct biochemical territories. Alongside his research on neurodevelopment, metabolism, and live cellular dynamics, Luca is also active in science communication and community building. He writes about #AI and #biotech for Wired Italia, founded the “Single-Cell and Spatial Metabolomics Online Day” bringing together 900+ participants from more than 60 countries. #forbesunder30 https://lnkd.in/dzwgqhnv

🔬 Thesis Advisor Spotlight — Prof. Yoon Seok Kim, EPFL School of Life Sciences What if you could see the molecular machines that let us steer the brain — and then redesign them? That's exactly what the UPKIM lab at EPFL does. Prof. Kim's work spans structural biology, optogenetics, and neuroengineering — solving the atomic structures of light-gated ion channels (Nature 2018a, 2018b Cell 2022, Cell 2023) and building the next-generation tools to target, read, and write activity in defined cell populations of behaving animals (Science 2019, Science 2020,Neuron 2020). His most recent work (Nature Neuroscience, 2026) reveals how mechanotransduction through Neuroligin-3 and CSPG4 shapes both healthy glial precursors and high-grade gliomas — opening a new front against some of the deadliest brain cancers. The lab is now recruiting PhD students through the EPFL Doctoral Program in Biotechnology and Bioengineering (EDBB)! If you want to engineer the molecular toolbox of modern neuroscience — from crystal to cortex — this is the lab. 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ewKvRTCs #PhDOpportunity #EPFL #EDBB #Optogenetics #Neuroengineering #StructuralBiology #Neuroscience