Our Platform and Expertise
Built on Scientific and Clinical Excellence

Zurich Trace brings together experts in clinical-translational and basic science applications of stable isotope tracing across the University-Medicine Zurich (UMZH) stakeholders: University Hospital Zurich (USZ), and University Children’s Hospital Zurich (Kispi), the universities (UZH, ETHZ) and core service providers FGCZ. Together, we aim to cover:

  • Clinical-grade isotope tracing workflows (both ex vivo and in vivo)
  • Advanced mass spectrometry and partner with NMR
  • Custom metabolic flux models
  • Secure data management via B-Fabric

The Team

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hornemann

Head of the lipidomics research facility at the Institute for Clinical Chemistry, at the University Hospital Zurich. The Hornemann lab established several comprehensive lipidomic and metabolomic workflows to understand the interconnections between lipid, amino acid and energy metabolism.

Dr. Dr. Raphael J. Morscher

Pediatric oncologist and research group leader studying patient specific metabolic networks of pediatric cancers and metabolic disease. He has a track record of developing and applying cutting edge ex vivo and in vivo metabolic profiling for insights metabolic function in health and disease.

Dr. Martin Poms

Head of selective screening at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich.

Prof. Dr. Martin Hersberger

Renowned expert in pediatric metabolic disorders and currently serves as the Head of the Division of Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich. His research interests focus on the genetic and biochemical basis of inborn errors of metabolism, with a particular emphasis on innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for these conditions.

Prof. Dr. Mathias Baumgartner

Director of the Children’s Research Center and Professor of Metabolic Diseases at UZH. He is the President of SwissPedNet with over 20 years of experience developing innovative diagnostic and treatment solutions for inborn errors of metabolism. Together with the team of Dr. Sean Froese at KISPI, he contributes his expertise in methylmalonic aciduria and re-methylation disorders.

PD. Dr. Sean Froese

Principal Investigator in the Division of Metabolism at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich. His group studies inherited metabolic disorders, in particular those that affect folate and vitamin B12 metabolism. The lab’s vision is to understand disease pathomechanisms, identify new therapeutic targets, and meaningfully impact therapies for rare diseases with unmet need.

Prof. Dr. Nicola Zamboni

Professor at ETHZ with long-standing expertise in developing and applying methods of quantitative metabolic flux analysis with stable isotopic tracers, metabolomics for biomedical research. His lab produced several original methods and software for quantifying fluxes with 13C tracers, both for stationary and non-stationary systems.

Dr. Alaa Othman

Head of the Metabolomics Unit at the FGCZ with >15 years of experience in developing targeted and untargeted metabolomics, isotope tracing and lipidomic methods.

Prof. Ralph Schlapbach

Director of the FGCZ. He has more than 20 years of experience establishing, managing, and maintaining the largest integrative omics technology platform in Europe, which served more than 5,000 users with 3,000 projects, 20,000 orders, and 2 million data resources in different omics fields in the last decade.

Prof.Dr. Laurent Bigler

Head of the Mass Spectrometry and General Analytical Services of the Department of Chemistry at the UZH. He has > 25 years’ experience (>100 research articles) in the development of methods based on liquid- and gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution (tandem) mass spectrometry to quantify and elucidate the structure of complex metabolites.

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