Michael Hengartner received a doctorate in 1994 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under H Robert Horvitz.
10 Facts About Michael Hengartner
1.
2.
Michael Hengartner then led a research group at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
3.
Michael Hengartner confirmed ETH Zurich's efforts to fostering a culture of innovation achieving faster market maturity of innovative products, especially in the area of digitization and climate.
4.
In November 2021 Michael Hengartner highlighted the concerns about the consequences of brain drain from Switzerland.
5.
In January 2022, Michael Hengartner drew attention to Switzerland experiencing the first consequences of being excluded from Horizon Europe with top Swiss scientists losing leadership roles in Horizon projects and young scientists being denied internationally recognised grants and the resulting problems of attracting leading scientists.
6.
Michael Hengartner emphasised the urgency for the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation to find alternative ways forward and for politicians to ensure its funding, but he hoped for an EU agreement by the end of 2022.
7.
In February 2022, in run up to the Swiss referendum on animal testing, Michael Hengartner stood his ground in a debate, emphasising that Swiss laws ranked human life higher than that of animals, which is a moral value people either do or don't share, but at the same time he highlighted the resulting tightrope walk of balancing the benefit of research for humans against the suffering of animals.
8.
Michael Hengartner is a member of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
9.
Michael Hengartner uses especially the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as molecular organism.
10.
Michael Hengartner is investigating mechanisms of cancer, Alzheimer's and geriatric diseases.