Getting rid of Salmonella

Emma Wetter Slack will receive the ETH Zurich Latsis Prize 2017 at the upcoming ETH Day. The immunologist is working on an oral vaccine against Salmonella that could be given to animals. Her research could reduce the use of antibiotics in animal breeding.

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Video portrait about Emma Wetter Slack

The British-born scientist is a Executive Scientific Collaborator at ETH Zurich’s Institute of Microbiology, where she heads up a group in the laboratory of ETH Professor Wolf-Dietrich Hardt. She and her team develop methods with which to investigate the population dynamics of intestinal bacteria in a host and improve understanding of the interaction between host and bacteria.

Wetter Slack studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge in the UK and followed this with a PhD at the London Research Institute. She then went on to conduct research in Canada and at the University of Bern, where she began to focus on the interplay between host and intestinal flora in primary immunodeficiency. In 2011, she received an Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, which allowed her to establish her own research group at ETH Zurich. Since then, she has been investigating how acquired immunity controls bacteria in the intestine and how the body gets rid of undesirable intestinal inhabitants.

Enchaining Salmonella

Wetter Slack has been awarded the ETH Zurich Latsis Prize for her groundbreaking research into Salmonella and how these bacteria can be combated with an innovative oral vaccine (ETH News reports). Her research has shown, among other things, how the antibodies produced after the vaccine enchain the diarrhoea pathogens as they grow and bind them together in a kind of raft. These clumps cannot penetrate the intestinal wall, which suppresses inflammation. This also stops the Salmonella from transferring genetic material among one another, thus preventing the bacteria from evolving into antibiotic-resistant species, for example.

Wetter Slack will receive the prize on ETH Day. She is only the fifth woman to receive the annual prize since it was introduced in 1985 to honour outstanding scientific work across all of the ETH Zurich research fields.

Latsis Prize and ETH Day 2017

Established by the Fondation Latsis Internationale, the Latsis Prize is awarded annually by ETH Zurich to honour outstanding young researchers across all research disciplines. It will be presented by ETH Rector Sarah Springman on ETH Day, 18 November 2017, and carries a prize money of CHF 25,000.

Prize winners in recent years: external page www.fondationlatsis.org

On ETH Day, guests from the worlds of research, politics and business will come to ETH Zurich to celebrate the 162nd anniversary of the university. Traditionally, this is the day on which ETH Zurich awards honorary doctorates to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the international scientific community. Similarly, students, doctoral candidates and lecturers are honoured for outstanding achievements.

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