Master's thesis | ZHAW Life Sciences and Facility Management

Applied Computational Life Sciences

The Master’s thesis is the scientific core of your studies. Through the thesis you not only demonstrate your knowledge and skills, but also the ability to successfully integrate into a research group and expand your knowledge in your specific field of scientific expertise.

You choose your specialist courses with a view to the topic of your thesis, which you determine before starting your studies.
Based on the theoretical foundations of the study programme, you answer a specific question in this research field.
You work out solutions that are relevant for research, industry and society, often in co-operation with national and international partners.
Depending on your topic, you work in a research group at the ZHAW in Wädenswil or externally with an industrial or research partner.

Choose your field of interest

The Master’s thesis is the scientific core of your studies. Through the thesis you not only demonstrate your knowledge and skills, but also the ability to successfully integrate into a research group and expand your knowledge in your specific field of scientific expertise.

You choose your specialist courses with a view to the topic of your thesis, which you determine before starting your studies.
Based on the theoretical foundations of the study programme, you answer a specific question in this research field.
You work out solutions that are relevant for research, industry and society, often in co-operation with national and international partners.
Depending on your topic, you work in a research group at the ZHAW in Wädenswil or externally with an industrial or research partner.

Industry Collaborations

Depending on your topic, you work in a research group at the ZHAW in Wädenswil or externally with an industrial or research partner. In any case, you have a local thesis advisor at ZHAW. Ask our advisors about possible industry collaborations. In the thesis Market-Place you find a list with some possible thesis topics and collaboration partners.

Partners

Participating institutes

Affiliated partners

Fields of Interest

Computational Genomics

Research Group/Collaborations with	People	Interests
Computational Genomics (IAS)	Maria Anisimova	Stochastic modeling and simulation Classification, prediction and hypothesis testing Algorithms for genomic sequence analysis Applied computational genomics
Computational Genomics (IAS)	Manuel Gil	Molecular evolution Phylogenetics Natural language processing Modelling, developing algorithms, programming Pipelining, simulation study, data analysis, data integration
Computational Genomics (IAS)	Victor Garcia	Population genetics Codon usage bias modeling Mathematical modeling of cancer immunotherapies Mathematical and statistical analysis of data Modelling, hypothesis testing, applied computational genomics
Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (IUNR)	Theo Smits	Genomics, transcriptomics Population genetics Phylogenomics Taxonomy Antibiotic resistances Plasmids Source-tracking of plant pathogenic bacteria Community analysis of aquaponics systems
Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (IUNR)	Joël Pothier	Bioinformatics Genomics Transcriptomics Population genetics Phylogenomics Taxonomy Bioinformatics Genomics Transcriptomics Population genetics Phylogenomics Taxonomy Plasmids

Computational Chemistry

Research Group/Collaborations with	People	Interests
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Olivier Merlo	Dynamical systems Modelling When biology goes quantum
Section for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry (ICBT)	Stefan Höck	Cheminformatics Pure functional programming Type-driven development Developing algorithms and designing abstractions in cheminformatics in tactically typed, purely functional programming languages (i.e. Haskell)
Biomedical Simulation (IAS)	Simone Ulzega	Modelling of complex systems Monte carlo simulations Bayesian inference

Biotechnological Processes

Research Group/Collaborations with	People	Interests
Biosystems Technology (ICBT)	Christin Peters	Enzyme cascades Biocatalysis Biotransformations
Centre vor Analytical Chemistry (ICBT)	Caspar Demuth	Development and application of sensors) for bioprocesses Online bioprocess analytics Characterisation of sensor components
Bioprocess Technology Research Group (ICBT)	Lukas Neutsch	Data-driven models (Python 3.7, Matlab) and soft-sensors for real-time bioprocess control and optimization Multivariate analysis (SIMCA) of physiology-related process data for quality assurance in biopharmaceutical production Implementation of fully integrated data processing environments and workflows (R Studio, programmable process control systems) in life science laboratories Automated image analysis for cell monitoring with fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy
Biochemical Engineering (ICBT)	Sören Werner	Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for: Optimization of standard and single-use bioreactors; Development of new stirrer geometries; Understand flow behavior for biotech and biomedical devices Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for contactless measurement of fluid velocities Shadowgraphy for bubble and particle size distribution: Measurement of gas mass transfer; Measurement of shear strain
Chemical Engineering (ICBT)	Judith Krautwald	Process simulation in bioengineering and biotechnology Analysis and optimization of real plant processes Application focus in life science, environmental science and production of bioenergy Modelling and simulation of biological methanation processes
Chemical Engineering (ICBT)	Peter Riedlberger	Downscaling towards microfluidic devices
Biomedical Simulation (IAS)	Sven Hirsch	Crystallization process modelling and simulation Process optimization
Microbiology and Molecular Biology (ICBT)	Martin Sievers	Genome mining

Digital Health, Biology and Neuroscience

Research Group/Collaborations with	People	Interests
Biomedical Simulation (IAS)	Sven Hirsch	Understanding biomedical phenomena Medical imaging analysis & diagnostics systems Data assimilation and machine intelligence Sensor and time series analysis Simulations of brain aneurysms
Biomedical Simulation (IAS)	Georg Spinner	Bayesian statistics Machine learning Medical image analysis Brain aneurysms
Biomedical Simulation (IAS)	Claus Horn	Forecast and control models for sequencial data using reinforcement learning and deep learning
Medical Physics (Dep. T)	Stephan Scheidegger	Impact of anti-cancer treatment on ecosystem dynamics of cancer Model-based data analysis of anti-cancer Treatments in vitro and in vivo Model-based data analysis in medical imaging
Hospitality Management Competency Group (IFM)	Nicole Gerber	Visualisation of complex business process interpendencies in hospitals and healthcare organisations
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Thomas Ott	Bio-inspired algorithms neuroinformatics, (machine) learning systems Computer models and simulations of biological dynamics
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Stefan Glüge	Machine learning Visualization of data flow of different patient journeys
Knowledge Engineering (IAS)	Robert Vorburger	Data processing Data pipeline automation Image analysis App development Automated 3D reconstruction of tumor spheres
Predictive Analytics (IAS)	Krzysztof Kryszczuk	Non-invasive wearable core body temperature sensor
Biomedical Engineering (Dept. T)	Daniel Baumgartner	Biomechanical engineering Finite elemente analysis Ergonomics & rehabilitation Data bases Clinical study design Experimental test design of medical products
Applied Complex Systems Science (Dept. T)	Ruedi Füchslin	Theory, modeling and simulation of complex systems Information processing in biological and life-like systems

Applications in Food Industry

Research Group/Collaborations with	People	Interests
Simulation and Optimisation (IAS)	Lukas Hollenstein	Modelling, simulation and optimization of complex processes in production Logistics, supply-chain, business, facilities, etc. using discrete-event simulation and data analytics
Institute for Applied Simulation (IAS)	Marcel Burkhard	Analysis of market price drivers in the swiss food industry Creation of a forecast model for selected goods
Center for Food Safety and Quality Management, Food Microbiology (ILGI)	Lars Fieseler	Phylogenetic analyses of bacteriophage genome sequences and phage derived proteins
Center for Food Processing and Packaging (ILGI)	Selçuk Yildirim	Modelling and simulation of shelf life of food and packaged food
Research Group Food Technology (ILGI)	Nadina Müller	Modelling of food processes and their impact of end product quality Creation of forecast models for the digitalisation of food processing

Applications in Environment and Agriculture

Research Group/Collaborations with	People	Interests
Geoinformatics research group (IUNR)	Patrick Laube	Geoinformatics Algorithms for digital map processing
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Martin Schüle	Data science, machine & deep learning Natural language processing Complex system modelling Cellular automata, application focus in environmental sciences and finance
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Thomas Ott	Bio-inspired algorithms, complex system dynamics Forecasting Seed classification using pattern recognition
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Ivo Kaelin	Statistical data analysis Mathematical modeling Identification and quantification of estrogenic activity in freshwater samples
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Matthias Nyfeler	Statistical data analysis Mathematical modeling
Bio-Inspired Modeling and Learning Systems (IAS)	Claus Horn	Forecast and control models for sequencial data using reinforcement learning and deep learning
Agricultural and Resource Economics Group (IUNR)	Raushan Bokusheva	Application of statistical approaches for assessing the impact of climate change in agriculture
Agricultural and Resource Economics Group (IUNR)	Martina Bozzola	Climate change economics Adaptation to climate change in agriculture (supervisor has access to large panel dataset from Europe and Eastern and Southern Africa) Trade and environment
Environmental Biotechnology (ICBT)	Martin Kühni	Process simulation in bioengineering and biotechnology Analysis and optimization of real plant processes Application focus in life science, environmental science and production of bioenergy
Environmental Biotechnology (ICBT)	Hans-Joachim Nägele	Biogas simulation data analysis
Research Group Ecotechnology (IUNR)	Andreas Schönborn	Thin-layer chromatography with AI in collaboration with a startup for the evaluation of microcontaminants in food, plastics and the environment

Master Thesis Topics with Full Description

The table above lists thesis supervisors and their fields of interest. All these supervisors provide thesis topics. You can get in touch with them to learn more about their topics. In the following you find a small selection of topics with full description:

Effect-based Trace Analytics of Toxic Substances leveraging Native Cloud Computing Services (Cognitive Services, AI and ML) (PDF 499,9 KB), Supervisor: Andreas Schönborn (INUR)

Exploring the effectiveness of cancer-immunotherapies for non-small lung cancer (PDF 527,0 KB), Supervisor: Victor Garcia (IAS)

How does an ancient protein expression regulation mechanism affect how the choice of codons in DNA (PDF 502,5 KB), Supervisor: Victor Garcia (IAS)

Completed Master Theses

Year of Graduation	Student	Title	Advisor
2019	Delucchi Matteo	Tandem Repeat Variation in Genomic Databases	Maria Anisimova (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Gygax Gregory	Smart Algorithms for Efficient Yield Forecasting	Thomas Ott (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Kaufmann Moritz	Evolution of multidrug resistance in pEL60 plasmids	Theo Smits (ZHAW, IUNR)
2019	Meier Patrick	A mathematical model to describe the relationship between the unfolded protein response (UPR) and production of recombinant proteins in the yeast Pichia pastoris	Sven Hirsch (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Naef Paulina	Optimizing of the Tandem Repeat Annotation Library (TRAL) and Copy Number Variations of Tandem Repeats in RNAseq Illumina Data	Maria Anisimova (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Peechatt Jithin Mathew	Characterisation of Bias and Variance of Progressive Sequence Alignment	Manuel Gil (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Schiling Daniel	Geoinformatics methods for a better understanding of wildlife-caused traffic accidents in the Cantons of Zurich (Switzerland)	Patrick Laube (ZHAW, IUNR)
2019	Selvaratnam Laksathan	Understanding cerebrovascular pathologies within the Circle of Willis using 0D flow network simulations	Sven Hirsch (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Siegrist Jonas Aaron	Genome mining of polyketide and nonribosomal peptide synthases in actinomycetes	Martin Sievers (ZHAW, ICBT)
2019	Ta Cam Phuong	Estimating Insertion and Deletion Parameters from Pairwise Sequence Alignments	Manuel Gil (ZHAW, IAS)
2019	Weichart Sonja	Continued development of an online application for the use in microbial batch cultures: Planning and simulation of experiments and data analysis and management	Robert Vorburger (ZHAW, IAS)

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