Facts and Figures
The ZNZ in numbers
|
160 |
Research groups with more than 1100 neuroscientists |
|
32 |
ERC Grants since 2007 |
|
300 |
Doctoral students enrolled in the ZNZ PhD Program, including 42 % from Switzerland, 40 % from Europe and 18 % from overseas |
|
848 |
PhD certificates awarded by December 2024 |
|
9 |
Elected members in the ZNZ Steering Committee |
|
1 |
Coordination office |
|
3500 |
Visitors annually to the BrainFair |
|
60 |
Patents in the National Centre of Competence in Research "Neural Plasticity and Repair" from 2001 – 2013 |
Milestones
| 2023 | Renewal of Partnership with University College London |
| 2022 | Start of Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences |
| 2021 | New Partnerships with Montreal Neurological Institute and University of Queensland |
| 2019 | Viral Vector Facility becomes UZH Central Technology Platform |
| 2017 | Establishment of the Therapy Development Accelerator, a unit promoting translational research |
| 2016 | Setup of a junior group in experimental Parkinson research |
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2015 |
Launch of the Viral Vector Facility |
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2014 |
Start of EIT Health with ETH participation |
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2013 |
Setup of the Oxford-McGill-Zurich Partnership in Neuroscience |
|
2012 |
Research Agreement with University College London |
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2011 |
Promotion of clinical multiple sclerosis research with a donation |
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2010 |
Collaboration Agreement with McGill University |
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2010 |
Launch of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program together with Neuroscience Centers in Bordeaux, Amsterdam, Göttingen and Coimbra |
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2009 |
Establishment of the Velux Foundation Assistant Professorship for Systems and Cell Biology of Neurodegeneration |
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2008 |
BrainFair exhibition "Emotions" at Bellevue in Zurich with over 20,000 visitors |
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2008 |
Establishment of the Assistant Professorship in Clinical Neurorehabilitation |
|
2005 |
CORTEX doctoral training project of the EU "Marie Curie Actions Early Stage Training" |
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2005 |
Visit of the Dalai Lama to the ZNZ on 3 August |
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2003 |
Creation of two new assistant professorships in multiple sclerosis in collaboration with Serono, Geneva |
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2001 |
Start of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research "Neural Plasticity and Repair" |
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1999 |
Cooperation agreement with Novartis Basel |
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1998 |
Inauguration of ZNZ as a joint center of competence of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich |
History
In the last 150 years, Zurich scientists have contributed significantly to research on the nervous system. Auguste Forel showed in his studies in 1887 that the nerve cell and nerve fiber form a unit, later called the 'neuron'. Constantin von Monakow founded the Institute of Brain Anatomy in 1891. He showed in 1882 that the nerve pathway connecting the retina with the visual cortex has a relay station in the midbrain. Walter Rudolf Hess received the Nobel Price in 1949 for his work on the role of the midbrain in autonomic functions like sleep, hunger or defense mechanisms. In the year 1962 Konrad Akert founded the Brain Research Institute of the University of Zurich. Alexander Borbély, Walter Lichtensteiger and Hans Zeier organized the Work Group in Neurobiology in 1972 where more than twenty institutes and clinics of the University and ETH Zurich participated. The successor of the Work Group in Neurobiology is the Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ) founded in October 1998. The ZNZ initiated the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in "Neural Plasticity and Repair" (PDF, 99 KB) with important research contributions in spinal cord repair, multiple sclerosis, neurodegeneration and robot-assisted neurorehabilitation from 2001 - 2013.