Thomas Sattelberger

Is there other life out there? Astonishing findings in recent years and cutting-edge research are bringing us ever closer to answering one of the most fundamental questions in science. The discovery of planets outside our solar system likely to have habitable conditions has thrilled astronomers hunting for a world resembling…

The nominating institution University of Innsbruck on the breakthrough: AQT is building upon 2 decades of European quantum research to now turn this know-how into a commercially successful company. Within one year of its first funding round AQT has managed to realize a first European quantum computer demonstrator, implemented cloud-access…

Our pioneering simulations of supermassive black hole binaries have linked the theory of galaxy formation with the emerging field of gravitational waves. By probing the physics at scales less than a light year inside colliding galaxies, we have shown that black holes can merge much faster than previously thought, we…

Theo Issitt’s project investigates gases released by cells in different ‘stress’ conditions to model diseases such as cancer. Changes in these gases can then be investigated in the breath to look for disease.

Nermeen Youssef’s goal is to induce fat cells to secrete insulin using blue light so that patients with type 1 diabetes will no longer need to inject insulin in the future. She wants to offer the needle-free treatment of type 1 diabetes.

José Manuel Rojas Díaz is working on addressing the high mortality rate of cervical cancer in Mexican women by developing a novel technology called BiKE (bispecific killer cell engager). This technology is designed to target a specific tumour marker, recruiting and stimulating immune cells (NK cells) to enhance the antitumour…

Gerhard Widmer talked about what makes music come alive, what it means for a computer to learn fundamental principles of expressive (piano) performance, and how, by using this learned knowledge, it can contribute to expressive music making – not as a replacement for human pianists, but as a musical companion.

Maliha Sharmin is addressing the challenge of developing a dengue vaccine that effectively targets all four antigenically distinct serotypes of the virus. Her proposed solution involves investigating the role of specific miRNAs in dengue virus replication and exploring the potential use of antisense oligonucleotides targeting these miRNAs as a promising…

The nominating institute EPFL on the breakthrough: Reward-based learning underlies important aspects of human and animal behavior, and recent advances reveal detailed understanding of the underlying neuronal mechanisms in mice. Precise optical and electrophysiological measurements, optogenetic perturbations and computational analyses uncover fundamental mechanisms of brain function during simple forms of…

In the 1930s, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a “New Deal” policy to overcome the Great Depression. Less than 100 years later, the world is facing an even more global challenge: the climate crisis. In this Falling Walls Plenary Table, our international panelists ask whether this requires an equally…