News

April 2025

Welcome to Fabian who joined the group as a PhD student!

Fabian received his BSc in Biochemistry from the Goethe University Frankfurt and his MSc in interdisciplinary sciences from ETH Zurich. His previous research gave him experience in mammalian and yeast cell biology, chemical biology, protein evolution and pathway evolution. His PhD thesis aims to use biocatalysis for sustainable production of marine derived alkaloids in a heterologous host.

April 2025

The Fraley Lab participated in the ETHZ Treffpunkt Science City, contributing tours of the Medicinal Chemistry Lab and a walk through the process of natural product discovery!

March 2025

Welcome to Ida Hipfinger who joined the group as a PhD student!

Ida received her BSc in Chemistry from the Technical University of Vienna, and her MSc in Medicinal Chemistry from the Technical University of Denmark. Her previous research focused on synthesizing and modelling novel inhibitors for sterol transport proteins. Her PhD thesis aims to broaden the substrate scope of fluorinase enzymes, enabling their use in biocatalysis-based medicinal chemistry and radiolabeling.

January 2025

The Fraley Group Out and About!

Amy visited the Kantonsschule Uster to deliver a lecture entitled Expedition Apotheke: A Journey through Nature's Pharmacy as part of the ETH Unterwegs program.

January 2025

Congratulations to Anita Berg who successfully passed her aptitude colloquium!

Anita has proposed an intriguing combination of biochemistry and synthetic chemistry to expand our understanding of secondary metabolism in underexplored plant systems.

January 2025

The Fraley Group is awarded funding from the Messerli Foundation!

These funds will support the PhD thesis of Chad Papenfuhs, to decipher the metabolic drivers of peatland health in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Entlebuch, Switzerland.

December 2024

End of Year Celebration

The group celebrated the accomplishments of their first year with a group lunch and gingerbread house competition, complete with our very own gingerbread LC-MS (designed and built by PhD student Chad Papenfuhs)!

October 2024

Welcome to Eléonore Moore who joined the group as a PhD student!

Eléonore received both her BSc and MSc in Interdisciplinary Science from ETH Zürich. Her previous research projects ranged from the photocatalytic synthesis of heterocycles to the optimization of a reporter system for protease activity. She will now use her chemical and biological knowledge to investigate sustainable ways to produce marine-derived alkaloids using biocatalysis.  

September 2024

On September 18, Amy gave her inaugural lecture entitled "Sustainable Chemistry Inspired by Nature"

A link to the recording can be found here.

August 2024

The first annual Fraley Group retreat featured a morning workshop on mentoring, followed by an afternoon of teamwork while sailing on the Zürisee. Special thank you to Fritz Bräker and the Segelclub UniversitätsSpital Zürich!

July 2024

Welcome to Teresa Horák, who joined the group as a research assistant!

July 2024

Fraley Lab Independence Day

On July 4, 2024, the Fraley Lab opened its doors as a fully renovated state-of the art laboratory for (bio)chemical research.

June 2024

On Wednesday 19th June 2024 we had our first group field sampling collection at the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Entlebuch!

June 2024

Welcome to Chad Papenfuhs who joined the group as a PhD student!

Chad received his BSc in Microbiology and Infectious Disease from the University of Texas at Austin, and his MSc in Microbiology from the University of Zürich. His previous research involved plant-microbe interactions with a focus on symbiosis and adaptation to extraterrestrial environments. His PhD projects will continue to investigate plant-microbe interactions, but with the aim of elucidating the genetic basis for biosynthetic pathways involved in the production of resilience factors and bioactive natural products.

May 2024

Pharmaceutical Discovery from Microbial Communities, a D-BIOL course developed by Amy, has been nominated for the 2024 KITE Award!

Amy presented the course at the ETH Zürich Learning and Teaching Fair 2024.

May 2024

Amy is awarded a JSP Fellowship to present the group's research at the Bürgenstock Conference!

More information can be found external page here.

February 2024

Welcome to Anita Berg who joined the group as a PhD student!

Anita received both her BSc and MSc in Chemistry from ETH Zürich. Her research projects were interdisciplinary, spanning from synthetic chemistry and catalysis to microbial biosynthesis of natural products. She now plans to expand her expertise in catalysis and biosynthesis with projects focused on the sustainable production of bioactive plant terpenoids.