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The nominating institution ETH Zurich on the breakthrough:
Pulling drug carriers with magnetic fields is difficult to scale up to humans. Schuerle developed a different control strategy using a combination of two fields: one that makes micro-magnets rotate, and a stationary field that limits this effect to the target site. The best micro-magnets for the job turn out to be made by nature: magnetotactic bacteria.
Tags: Bio-Tech, Engineering, New Work, Robotic, Bioengineering, Nanotechnology
Simone Schürle is assistant professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, heading the responsive biomedical system lab. She develops diagnostic and therapeutic systems at the nanoscale and microscale, in order to tackle steep problems in medicine. Schuerle attended MIT, researching nanosensors for cancer diagnostics as well as methods to enhance drug transport (2014-2017). In 2013, she earned her PhD at the ETHZ. Schuerle has received several awards and fellowships, and was honored by the WEF for her scientific contributions. In 2014, she co-founded the spin-off MagnebotiX, offering magnetic micromanipulation systems.