Research area
The Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Lab is focused on the design and development of nanoparticle-​enabled approaches addressing clinical needs in disease etiology, diagnostics and drug delivery. We engineer nanoparticle-​based systems based on design specs defined by clinical needs. By combining experimental and modelling approaches, we strive to obtain a holistic understaning of the materials-​biology interplay across scale in order to rationally adjust the materials design. We have expertise in nanoparticle synthesis and functionalization, characterization and multiscale imaging of particle-​based systems, as well as translational nanomedicine.
Inge Herrmann is a chemical engineer with additional training in (pre)clinical research. After graduating with a PhD from ETH Zurich, she underwent further training at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ), the University of Illinois (US) and the Imperial College London (UK). Since 2015, she is heading a research group at Empa specialized on nanoscale materials and devices for healthcare. In 2019, Inge Herrmann joined the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich where she is heading the Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Lab. She is an expert in nanoparticle synthesis and characterization, spectromicroscopy and translational nanomedicine. She has spearheaded several translational nanomedicine projects, and serves as a scientific advisor of the spin-​off companies hemotune, anavo and veltist commercializing technologies emerging from her lab. Inge Herrmann has won various prestigious awards, including the Bayer Healthcare Award and the Johnson & Johnson Award, the Swiss National Science Foundation Eccellenza Grant, the Empa Innovation Award and has been named Emerging Investigator 2021 by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Students and postdocs under her supervision have won major scientific and entrepreneurial awards, including the Best Master Thesis awarded by the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, ETH’s best doctoral thesis in the area of materials and processes (MaP) and ETH Pioneer Fellowships. She serves on the executive board of the ETH SFA Personalized Medicine and Related Technologies program and is an elected member of the research commission of the Swiss Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa). She is principle investigator (PI) of several national and international projects supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Personalized Health and Related Technologies Initiative (PHRT), the Novartis FreeNovation program and several medical foundations (incl. the Swiss Heart Foundation, Krebsliga and many others).