Passionate about exploring different disciplines
Eleonora Secchi has been a Senior Scientist at D-BAUG since June 2023. She works at the Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), where her research focuses on understanding how bacteria organize and interact to form resistant biofilms. Her findings may provide new ways of preventing or dissolving biofilms – for example on the surfaces of medical devices, where they are a major problem, especially in hospitals. Get to know her in this short interview.
Congratulations on your appointment as Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich! What are your current research interests?
Thank you! Since the beginning of my scientific career, I have been passionate about interdisciplinary work. Currently, I am working at the interface of fluid dynamics, microbiology, and physics to understand the physical mechanisms and environmental factors controlling bacterial surface colonization and biofilm formation in fluids and on moist surfaces. Biofilms are a widespread mode of bacterial growth and have a critical impact in environmental, industrial, and medical settings. My research at ETH has shed light on the bio-physical factors that control biofilm growth and the effect on flow and transport in certain systems. Together with my group, we are building a comprehensive understanding of the different stages of biofilm formation, starting from surface colonization, which lays the foundation for the structure of a biofilm to mature biofilms, in which we characterize their mechanical properties and biochemical composition.
What is the impact of your research on society?
Two of the many crises our society is facing are the declining effectiveness of antibiotics and the lack of access to clean water for more than a billion people. What do they have in common? Biofilms, which, on one end, are inhabited by drug-resistant pathogens and, on the other hand, cause energy-intensive and costly fouling of membranes. The ultimate goal of my research is to provide insight into how we can control the growth of biofilms in industrial and medical applications or exploit their properties in applications such as water filtration systems.
Our work has proven very effective in providing a clear conceptual model of the mechanisms underlying biofilm development and explaining how environmental conditions shape biofilm material properties. I believe that this approach paves the way for novel targeted antifouling strategies applicable in medical, environmental, and industrial contexts.
Where were you working before you came to ETH?
I did my engineering studies and PhD at Politecnico di Milano, with two six-month exchanges at Fermilab in Chicago during my master's degree and at MIT in Boston during my PhD. As a PhD student, my research focused on the development of optical techniques for the characterization of soft and biological materials. After my PhD, I did a postdoc at the École Normale Supériore in Paris, where I developed an optical technique to characterize the flow in carbon nanotubes. These systems are very promising for developing a new generation of water filtration membranes, capable of producing energy while filtering. In 2016, I joined ETH Zurich, first as an ETH Postdoctoral Fellow and then, since 2018, with an SNSF PRIMA grant, which gave me the opportunity to start my research group. At ETH, I have chosen biofilms as my research subject and have studied them using interdisciplinary tools I have developed.
Which courses are you teaching at ETH?
I am passionate about teaching! Soon after joining ETH Zurich, I designed and led the course Microfluidics for Microbial Ecology (now called Experimental Microfluidics: A Short Course) for master’s and doctoral students because I saw the need to educate students about small-scale fluid transport. Since then, I have organized the course every year. Since the autumn semester of 2020, I am also co-responsible for organizing and teaching the Environmental Engineering Seminars as part of the bachelor programme. I am part of a team of three senior scientists from IfU; together, we prepare, coordinate, and run the course. It is a great experience and allows me to teach students the crucial topic of scientific communication. Since the autumn semester of 2023, I have also been teaching Numerical Hydraulics, a master’s-level course in which students learn to solve differential equations numerically and by computer for the prediction of hydraulic processes.
What do you do if you have a few minutes to spare?
I like hiking, yoga, and cooking – all these (very different) activities bring me peace of mind! Whenever I can, I leave my desk for a short walk in the Hönggerberg forest; the change of scenery usually clears my mind and helps me to get a new perspective on problems. I love to travel, and whenever possible, I try to combine this with conferences to reduce my carbon footprint. I am also involved in outreach activities; I think our society needs to understand the need and the potential of science to tackle the challenges we face.
What book, podcast or movie related to your research field would you recommend to students and colleagues?
I would recommend a book I recently read “So simple a beginning”, from Parthasarathy. It shows many examples of how physics shapes the living world, and has great illustrations!
What advice would you give to students who are just starting out in environmental engineering?
My advice is to be passionate and to explore. Throughout my career, I have studied different disciplines and technologies and been in contact with several scientific communities. I believe this has made me a better scientist and given me a unique approach to problem-solving. I strongly encourage students to be curiosity-driven and do the same. Also, we unfortunately live in challenging times for our planet – students should focus on relevant problems and be motivated to find solutions to them.
In June 2023, Dr. Eleonora Secchi (*1986) was promoted to permanent Senior Scientist at D-BAUG at ETH Zurich. Secchi earned a B.A. in Physical Engineering, a M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry from the Polytechnic University of Milan. From 2014 to 2018, she was a postdoctoral researcher, initially at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, and then at ETH Zurich funded by an ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2018, she received an SNSF PRIMA grant and became the principal investigator and group leader of the bioMatter Microfluidics Group at D-BAUG. Her research aims to understand the physical mechanisms and environmental factors that control bacterial surface colonization and biofilm formation. She brings to this problem an interdisciplinary, state-of-the-art toolbox: by applying tools from microfluidics, fluid dynamics, microbial ecology, and soft matter physics to characterize biofilm formation and rheology, she seeks to understand their behavior and impact in natural and industrial systems.
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