Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is reinforcing its commitment to research in Switzerland by inaugurating the pioneering state-of-the-art Institute of Human Biology in Basel, Switzerland.
Commitment to Basel
The company’s top management opened the “Building 92“, a fully renovated 26-year-old building, for the Institute of Human Biology and inaugurated the “92 for Human Model Systems” facility together with Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. The „Building 92“ is part of a 1.4-billion-Swiss-franc site investment. Since 2016, Roche has invested approximately 7 billion Swiss francs into its Swiss sites.
The laboratory building “opens a door to new insights” and represents an investment in the hopes of many patients, said Health Minister Baume-Schneider in her opening remarks. At the same time, she noted, this signifies a “clear commitment” by Roche to Basel and to Switzerland.
The opening marks a significant milestone in Roche’s strategy to unlock the transformative potential of human model systems to revolutionize drug discovery and development. Among other things, the up to 250 scientists at the Institute of Human Biology are working on developing organoids from human cells, such as retinas. These human tissue replicas will reduce reliance on animal testing. The laboratory building’s infrastructure includes a robot located in a sterile room. The robot can produce thousands of organoids for research purposes without human intervention.
Replicating human disease
The Institute of Human Biology, originally founded in 2023, leverages human disease biology, computational biology, and translational bioengineering to pioneer advanced systems that replicate human disease biology with unprecedented precision. Bringing this diverse expertise together across multidisciplinary projects allows scientists to generate sophisticated models, such as complex cultured tissue samples, organoids, microfluidic ‘organ-on-chip’ technologies, and in silico modeling. These models will deepen the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of human disease and therapeutics.
Thomas Schinecker, CEO of the Roche Group, said: “The inauguration of the Institute of Human Biology reinforces our commitment to Switzerland as a global innovation hub, where Roche invests around 3.5 billion Swiss francs in research each year. By combining human organoid models with artificial intelligence, the Institute of Human Biology could change how we discover and develop new medicines. “
Azad Bonni, Global Head and Director of the Institute of Human Biology, added: “Modern medicine requires sophisticated technologies. By pioneering human model systems and better understanding human disease, we will move beyond the limitations of traditional research to predict if and how new treatments will work in people. This new research facility allows our scientists to make and translate discoveries at the intersection of fundamental and industry sciences, changing how we understand and tackle human disease. “
Text: Roche (Editing by SCCIJ)
