Our new PhD student, Jean Lucca, is using eDNA to understand how geological dynamics in mountains relate to speciation across some of the richest and most endemic landscapes around the globe. Welcome to the group!
Yu Yi a visiting PhD student joined the ELE group in November. Her work focuses on eDNA as a tool to monitor fish biodiversity in Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. Welcome in the group!
Zhong Shuo calls for everybody to join his team to advance science by participating in their visual challenge. It takes just one minute. 👉 lab.citizenscience.ch/en/project/942
Liu Jingyi joined the ELE group in November bringing in her work that evaluates multi-decadal environmental impacts of mariculture in China. Welcome!
In August Meret Jucker collected eDNA and plankton net samples on R/V FOREL for the Greenfjord project to compare marine biodiversity in two fjords in SW Greenland.
🎄🎅❄ Merry Christmas from the ELE group! 🎄🎅❄
From 11 to 24 September 2025, our team deployed an environmental DNA (eDNA) autosampler in Alptal, right next to the WSL experimental infrastructure. Check out the pictures!
🚀 Applications are open for HACK-4-SAGES, a digital twin in astrobiology hackathon
🗓️ 9 to 13 March 2026
🌍 Join online or in person
🏆 Win an all-expenses-paid trip to ETH Zurich
⏳ Deadline: 16 January 2026
🔗 hack-4-sages.org
💡 We also welcome mentors: tinyurl.com/5bpnxn2y
The WSL’s new exhibition “Breaking the Code” highlights ELE group research, revealing new insights into biodiversity. Check it out!
🌍 New publication alert!
In Ecography, we show how landscape connectivity and climate dynamics shape plant endemism hotspots in the Hengduan Mountains. Endemism peaks at ~3,000–4,000 m, highlighting the complex interplay of geography and biodiversity.
Read the article here: buff.ly/AfI5xOk
💪 Check this out! The head of our group, Loïc Pellissier, was recently featured on Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia Instagram!
Here's the link: buff.ly/45HiX64
🎉 We did it — 500+ followers on LinkedIn!
A huge thank-you to everyone who supports ELE Group. Your energy keeps us moving forward! Join our LinkedIn community here: www.linkedin.com/company/ecos...
🌱 Fieldwork in Colombia!
Together with Fundación Universitaria de Popayán, Fundación Biodiversa de Colombia, and Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, our group carried out a pilot eDNA project in Puracé National Park.
Read more: fup.edu.co/impulsamos-i...
🚀 Our guest Nikita Zychowska was a recent speaker at the COPL Lunch Seminar. She's a BSc student in AI at Johannes Kepler Universität Linz and the co-founder of the Astroyouth society. She'll stay in our group for two more weeks to work on the co-evolution of planets and life project.
In the recent publication, we show that combining multispecies primers with CRISPR-Dx—a workflow dubbed ampliscanning—matches the effectiveness of metabarcoding for detecting terrestrial mammals via eDNA in remote, high-alpine catchments.
Read the article: buff.ly/9rVajwt
🌋 Let's welcome Roos van Wees, a new postdoctoral researcher in our group.
Roos's background is in geomorphology, having examined how erosion shapes volcanic landscapes over time. In BurGeoN project, she will investigate how geomorphological dynamics influence biodiversity in mountain regions.
🌍 New publication alert!
In our latest piece in Nature Cities, we highlight how biodiversity modeling can support urban planning by balancing human well-being with nature. This helps cities meet biodiversity targets while ensuring access to healthy ecosystems.
Read the article: buff.ly/zeRBrYh
🎉 Warm welcome to Antonin Affholder, a new NOMIS fellow and postdoc in our group.
He will research the dynamical mechanisms that caused the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere to occur hundreds of millions of years after the emergence of photosynthesis.
Exciting research is coming, stay tuned!
New publication alert!
Together with colleagues, we show how combining eDNA with remote sensing can improve models of fish biodiversity in tropical rivers.
🔗 Read the article here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🌱 We’ve just completed the first sampling mission of Project Burgeon, supported by the SNSF. Over the summer, we explored multiple locations across the Puracé National Park to map the rich plant diversity of the Andean forest. We aim to uncover how geological dynamics shape mountain biodiversity.
Proud to see our work showcased at the Swiss Pavilion of the Expo 2025 in Osaka!
Over the years, we have co-designed robotic and eDNA technologies that can reveal the hidden presence of species and provide an early warning against invasive ones.
Image credits:
© FDFA, Presence Switzerland
🌱 This summer, we kicked off our first biodiversity monitoring initiative at ETH Zentrum and Hönggerberg using eDNA sampling. A big shoutout to everyone who made this day such a success!
Our PhD student Anna Lewkowicz is part of a team that recently raised nearly 13,000 CHF to organize an innovative astrobiology-themed hackathon. They're currently looking for hackathon co-hosts. DM us or write them an email if you'd like to get involved!
🌍 Congratulations to our PhD student Anna Lewkowicz for receiving an ESA Academy scholarship, which allowed her to participate in the XXI International School of Astrobiology ‘Josep Comas i Solà’: Origins to Organisms: Understanding Life’s Beginnings. Great job!
👨🎓 Let's welcome our new PhD student, Merlin Weiß! He works on the BiOcean5D project to understand how marine biodiversity changes across space, time, and environmental gradients. Welcome, and we hope you'll have a wonderful time here!
📚 For his MSc thesis at ETH Zurich, David Racine is developing a rapid biodiversity assessment method across various land uses. He uses eDNA swabbing to detect insects and mammals, and automated plant ID via the FlorID and Pl@ntNet APIs.
David, we are so proud of you and wish you all the best!
Our MSc student, Deniz Imir, is trying to better understand the relationship between landscape perception and biodiversity. He conducted eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring in various catchments across Switzerland (see the map) to assess the presence of mammals and insects in the region. Good luck!
Exciting to see biodiversity indicators now publicly available, a major step toward data-driven conservation. We are proud that members of ELE contributed to this important effort.
Learn more here:
Congratulations to Monika Goralczyk, who recently defended her PhD thesis "Uncovering mammal diversity patterns and tropical forest dynamics with environmental DNA". We are very proud of you and wish you all the best in the future!
📢 New research published in Ecological Modelling explores sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) forecasting of thermal stress for Swiss river fishes. The study aims to enhance our understanding of thermal stress impacts on freshwater ecosystems.
Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...
#S2S
