The next generation of scientists:Stephan Isringhausen, Oncology and Hematology

In today’s world, scientists of different fields need to work together – for their own success as well as for patients’ well-being. PhD programs, which provide an existing network, can facilitate this. Students in Zurich tell us what they think the future holds for them.

Photos & Video: Raphael Zubler

Like most researchers, Stephan Isringhausen is motivated by “the unknown stuff,” as he says. “The good part about biology is that so much is unknown. You just have to zoom in a bit more and then you realize so many things have yet to be explored.” Isringhausen continues: “I’m excited about merging technology with artificial intelligence in diagnostics. I’m looking at chronic virus infections and how these can affect blood stem cells. The blood stem cell usually is in the bone, and we use flow cytometry and imaging in our lab.”

In addition to his research, Isringhausen works with other students in the PhD program. “There are a lot of people who don’t have the expertise in this specific field of bone imaging, so quite frequently we get to collaborate with different departments.” There are a lot of opportunities to network at graduate school. He says, “There’s also a mentoring program, which I enjoyed. I was a mentee and then a mentor.”

Our school encourages a knowledge transfer between students. “It’s about broadening horizons. In the end, a huge task of research is to transfer that knowledge, to talk about what you’ve done.”

“I’m a huge fan of collaborations. Because you get to know different topics, maybe get involved in a different project,” Isringhausen says, “We have a monthly joint immunology meeting. It’s rather broad, so you get access to information that you didn’t know before, but it´s still immunology.”