Samuel Philip Nobs, PhD, will join the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) as Group Leader in August 2025, to study the interplay between microbiome and lung immune system. His research program will further strengthen the biomedical cluster that is developing at the Bellinzona Institutes of Science (Bios+).
Bellinzona, July 31, 2025 – The Foundation for the Institute for Research in Biomedicine is pleased to announce that in August a new research group, headed by Dr. Samuel Nobs, will begin its activities at the IRB, an institute affiliated with the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).
After undergraduate studies at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), with research stays at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research (NZ) and Australian National University (AU), Nobs completed his master’s degree in Immunology and Microbiology at ETH Zurich (CH), where he also pursued doctoral studies obtaining the PhD in 2017. For his thesis, Nobs was awarded the ETH Silver Medal as well as the doctoral thesis prize in Allergology from the European Federation of Immunological Societies. For postdoctoral training, Nobs joined the Weizmann Institute of Science (IL), where for his discoveries he was awarded the Sidney and Joan Pestka Postgraduate Award from the International Cytokine and Interferon Society as well as the Weizmann Institute of Science Prize for Outstanding Postdoctoral Achievements. In 2024, thanks to a Starting Grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Nobs started his independent scientific career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Zurich (CH). In August 2025, Nobs will move with his group to Bellinzona, joining the IRB as Group Leader to head the Immune Microbiome Interactions laboratory and study the interplay between microbiome and lung immune system.
Nobs has authored numerous scientific publications in leading international journals. Swiss-born, he was selected out of 88 applicants from top universities in response to an international call issued in 2024. Six short-listed candidates presented their work and research program to the Bios+ community. The IRB Foundation’s final choice fell on Nobs, because of his accomplishments and the prospected research on fundamental studies of the immune system and related diseases, which complements existing programs at the IRB.
Out of the six short-listed candidates, the profile of Dr. Gea Cereghetti also caught the attention of the IRB Foundation. Cereghetti studied at ETH Zurich (CH) and, after a research stay at Harvard Medical School (USA), obtained the PhD in Biochemistry from ETH Zurich in 2021. She then moved to the University of Cambridge (UK) as a postdoctoral fellow funded by the European Molecular Biology Organization and UK Research and Innovation programs. In 2024, she obtained the Lopez-Loreta Prize, with which she launched her independent research program at Cambridge. Over the last decade, Cereghetti specialized in the biology of protein phase separation, condensation, and aggregation. These processes play important roles in physiological stress responses, immune regulation, and aging-related diseases. Cereghetti will join the IRB as Group Leader in June 2026.
