Two new research groups at the IRB

The Foundation for the Institute for Research in Biomedicine chose two promising young scientists to establish their independent research groups at the IRB institute, affiliated with the Università della Svizzera italiana: Dr. Samuel Nobs, and Dr. Gea Cereghetti. The two talents were selected among 88 applicants from top universities worldwide.

After undergraduate studies at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), Samuel Nobs completed his master’s degree in Immunology and Microbiology at ETH Zurich (CH), where he also obtained the PhD. In 2017, he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science (IL) as postdoctoral fellow until November 2024. After a brief period as Assistant Professor at the University of Zurich (CH), Nobs will join the IRB as Group Leader in August 2025. Nobs is an expert in the emerging field of host-microbiota interaction. His research interests focus on the interplay between microbiome and lung immune system, in health and during disease.

Cereghetti studied at ETH Zurich (CH) and, after a research stay at Harvard Medical School (USA), obtained the PhD in Biochemistry from ETH Zurich in 2021. She then moved to the University of Cambridge (UK) as a postdoctoral fellow funded by the European Molecular Biology Organization and UK Research and Innovation programs. In 2024, she obtained the Lopez-Loreta Prize, with which she launched her independent research program at Cambridge. Her work focuses on the biology of protein phase separation, condensation, and aggregation. These processes play important roles in physiological stress responses, immune regulation, and aging-related diseases. Cereghetti will join the IRB as Group Leader in June 2026.

The research interests of the two young talents closely align with the IRB’s mission and with present and prospected focus areas, nicely complementing existing strengths at the IRB and the Bellinzona Institutes of Science (Bios+).