News EPFL

EPFL survived the end of the world, vintage 2012

Published:22.12.12 — If you are reading this sentence, it’s because December 21, 2012, was a Winter solstice like any other. We can therefore stay calm… until the announcement of the next apocalypse!

42 Million More Francs for Biocartis

Published:21.12.12 — Active in the development of a diagnostic platform, the company’s Innovation Square has just completed its fourth round of fundraising.

Valais, a “Health Valley” and the Driving Force of Tomorrow's Power

Published:19.12.12 — This morning, the Council of State of the canton of Valais in corpore and EPFL signed an agreement for the creation of the EPFL Valais Wallis academic cluster. The signing took place after a year of setting up the project announced on 10 January 2012. The Council of State, the City of Sion, EPFL and the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO) Valais Wallis will shortly launch an architectural design competition for the future University campus that will house the first EPFL’s research chairs in 2014 and the first HES transfers in 2015.

Autoimmune disease – retraining white blood cells

Published:18.12.12 — Symptoms of an autoimmune disease disappeared after a team of scientists retrained white blood cells using a specially engineered protein. This method is extremely promising for treating diseases such as type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Recreate the Concert in the Living Room

Published:17.12.12 — Hear music of concert hall quality at any place in the room from a stereo recording. The device created by EPFL spin-off Illusonic creates an “acoustic space.”

“More than classes, they are vast networks of knowledge”

Published:13.12.12 — 53,000 enrolled students, close to 10,000 certificates issued: the first MOOC offered this autumn by EPFL on the Coursera platform has been a success. The following is a discussion with the course author, Martin Odersky, the inventor of the computer programming language Scala.

Stained Glass Solar Windows for the Swiss Tech Convention Center

Published:11.12.12 — As a World’s first, no less than 300m2 of dye sensitized solar cells will be integrated to the facade of the EPFL’s Convention Center. This prototype will constitute the first application of such technology to a public building. The translucent panels are constructed and assembled by local SMEs and make use of an invention conceived by EPFL researcher Michael Graetzel. This project is embedded within the framework of the partnership established in 2009 between EPFL and Romande Energie - whose aim is to create one of the largest solar energy parks in Switzerland.