Selman Sakar Promoted to Associate Prof, and Félix Naef to Full Prof.
© 2023 EPFL - Selman Sakar (left) and Félix Naef (right)
The Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Board) has announced new professorial appointments and promotions at EPFL. Among them, Selman Sakar, Head of the MicroBioRobotic Systems Laboratory (MICROBS, Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering), has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, while Félix Naef, Head of the Laboratory of Computational and Systems Biology (UPNAE, Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences), has been promoted to the rank of Full Professor.
Mahmut Selman Sakar is an international expert in the field of micro- and nanorobotics, with focus on micromechanics applied to cellular tissues. His research on new propulsion systems for microrobots has received international acclaim. Among other grants, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant in 2017 and an ERC Proof of Concept Grant in 2020. At EPFL, he runs the MicroBioRobotic Systems Laboratory (MICROBS) and is known for his commitment to high-quality teaching. Through generations of students, through his highly innovative research and a wide network of collaborations, Mahmut Selman Sakar contributes to developing, at EPFL, the future of his field.
Félix Naef's specialist area is chronobiology, a field in which he is one of the world’s leading researchers. He has made important discoveries about how circadian rhythms affect gene expression. After originally focusing on pure computational biology, his laboratory expanded its research to include experimental work acquiring its own data. As an independent Group Leader, Felix Naef has led an extremely successful research programme in an area of great importance for biology and medicine. He is also highly committed to his teaching and administrative duties at EPFL, as well as serving on many committees or bodies.
(Source: official EPFL announcement, authored by Sandy Evangelista)