Congratulations to Anna Vasilevskaya on successfully defending her PhD last week! Her PhD work tackled a fundamental challenge in neuroscience: constraining the set of plausible algorithms that could underlie cortical function 🧠 Well done!

📢 We’re hiring a Research Technician for a collaborative project in cellular & molecular neuroscience. Investigate mRNA localization and translation in neurons—and changes in neurodevelopmental conditions—using imaging, genome engineering and cryo-EM. Apply by August 21: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Congratulations to Tommaso Caudullo on defending his PhD last month! His work explored how the zebrafish brain learns and updates representations of smells over different timescales—offering new clues about how brains turn sensory experience into memory 🎓🐟 @rainerfriedrichlab.bsky.social

📢 We’re hiring a Cloud Platform Engineer to drive FMI’s transition to a modern hybrid cloud architecture. Help build the infrastructure supporting 20 research groups, advanced technology platforms and large-scale biomedical data analysis. Apply by August 31 at www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Yesterday we were honored to welcome @novartis.bsky.social CEO Vas Narasimhan to FMI. He met with our director, toured several labs and joined researchers, group leaders & staff for an informal get-together. Thank you for your curiosity, thoughtful questions & interest in our science and community!

Snapshots from the FMI PhD Retreat 2026, which took place last week in Orbey, France 🇫🇷 From flash talks and inspiring discussions to workshops, games, and outdoor activities, the retreat was a great opportunity for PhD students to connect, exchange ideas, and build a stronger sense of community 🤝

Congratulations to Marylène Bonvin, who defended her PhD thesis last week! Her work explored how metabolism and gene regulation help Hydra — a tiny freshwater animal famous for regeneration — organize and maintain its body plan 👏

Congratulations to Harsh Kanodia and Antonio Falasconi from Silvia Arber’s team, jointly affiliated with the FMI and @biozentrum.unibas.ch, on receiving the J.C.W. Shepherd PhD Student Prize for Scientific Excellence, one of Biozentrum’s internal scientific awards. Well deserved! 📷: Biozentrum

Our seminar room was almost overflowing for the third Friedrich Miescher Lecture, hosted by @priscaliberali.bsky.social and delivered by Ewa Paluch from @cam.ac.uk. Paluch gave a fascinating talk on cell shape and the cross-talk between cell shape and cell fate 🔬🧫

Congratulations to Sera Weevers, who successfully defended her PhD thesis yesterday! Her work explored how Hydra—tiny creatures with regenerative superpowers—use chemical signals and physical forces to decide where to grow a new head 🎓

June is #Pride Month: a time to celebrate LGBTQI+ communities and recognize the progress made — and the challenges that remain — in advancing equality and inclusion. Throughout June, the Pride flag will be displayed at the FMI entrance, with stickers and small flags available at the Welcome Desk 🌈

A small delegation from the FMI is at the NKI in Amsterdam for this year’s @eu-life.bsky.social community meeting: three intense days of exchanging ideas on strategy, science communication, EDI and more with colleagues from leading life science institutes across Europe 🧬💬🤝

Ahead of Pride Month, a flag-raising ceremony took place today on the Novartis Campus in Basel, celebrating diversity, belonging and community with inspiring speeches and the Novartis Choir 🏳️‍🌈 #Pride

This week, we welcomed ~160 high-school students to our annual Tage der Genforschung. Over 3 days, our visitors got a glimpse of biomedical research through hands-on activities, met FMI scientists, and explored possible life science careers. A big thank you to our amazing volunteers! 👏🔬

Postdoc opportunity at FMI + Novartis Biomedical Research 🧬 The Dahmane lab (FMI) & Farady lab (Novartis) are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to study how extracellular inflammasome particles propagate inflammation during neurotropic RNA virus infection. Apply by May 31: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Congratulations to Margherita Turco and the whole team on this beautiful @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social cover, celebrating new work on an in vitro model of the menstrual cycle using human endometrial organoids. Read more about this research & watch the accompanying video: www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

Spread the word: We’re hiring a Director of Operations to lead scientific support at the FMI. This senior role enables cutting-edge research by partnering with scientists, overseeing technology platforms, ensuring safety & compliance, and representing the FMI externally: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

The latest Happy Hour at the FMI made the most of the sunshine. Alongside snacks, drinks, and good conversations, FMIers headed out to the meadow in front of the institute for games in the spring weather ☀️

Congratulations to Adwait Salvi on defending his PhD earlier this month. His research looked at how DNA is organized inside cells and how that structure changes as certain cartilage cells in mice lose their specialized identity. Well done, Dr. Salvi! 🎓

Today at the FMI we had a great webinar on neurodiversity with Camilla Pang—author, scientist, and science communicator. She challenged the usual “deficit” view and showed how designing work environments for different ways of thinking can make our systems stronger 🧠 #Neurodiversity

Spring is finally springing on campus 🌸 Perfect time to step outside, whether it’s getting active in the street workout area behind our building or just enjoying a walk around campus ☀️🚶‍♂️

Last week, some of our scientists traded the lab for the stage and enjoyed a fun afternoon of improv theater. No experience, no pressure: just curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to play. A great reminder that exploration doesn’t happen only in the lab 💡🎭

Today we hosted the inaugural Friedrich Miescher Lecture with Omaya Dudin, recipient of this year’s Friedrich Miescher Prize, which we're proud to sponsor. He delivered a fascinating talk on the evolution of multicellularity, with exciting insights into expansion microscopy 🦠🔬 @dudinlab.bsky.social

Big turnout for FMI–Novartis Microscopy Day! This week’s event brought ~70 participants to a joint workshop with experts that came all the way from Japan, followed by one of our best-attended microscopy courses and an FMI–BR mini symposium with about 100 attendees🔬

Sometimes the most meaningful paths aren’t planned but emerge as we walk them. The new stone walkway to the FMI building began as an informal trail and was later proposed by our community as a permanent path. Like science, it was shaped by steps that ventured beyond the set route 🚀

Last week at the FMI, the @twist-basel.bsky.social panel unpacked how non-EU scientists can build careers in Swiss pharma. From career paths to networking, lots of practical insights shared with an engaged crowd. Thanks to the organizers, panelists & everyone who joined!

Last week at the FMI we had a Chess & Cheese night 🧀♟️ It was brie-lliant!

Ahead of #WomensDay, we celebrate our incredible female researchers, who not only drive biomedical discoveries, but also support efforts to advance gender equality in science, for example during our recent panel on progress & inclusion👇 #WomenInScience #IWD2026

💫 We're hiring! The Computational Biology Facility is looking for a Computational Proteomics Scientist to collaborate on cutting-edge proteomics projects, develop new analytical approaches, and publish impactful research. Apply by April 12 at: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Applications are now open for our PhD and MD-PhD Programs! 🎓🔬 Join us in Basel—Europe’s life sciences hub—and pursue cutting-edge science in a vibrant, international environment. Apply by April 20 at www.fmi.ch/education-ca...