Update 20 November 2008 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 17-year-old Swiss employee in Crissier was kidnapped at knifepoint as he left work Tuesday, early in the evening. Employees noted the license number and called police, and a largescale manhunt was quickly underway. Lausanne newspaper 24 Heures Wednesday reported that the youth was lifted in front of Media Markt, where he works, and today’s paper says at least one of the men who kidnapped him was a fellow employee; police say they are still trying to establish the facts.
Lausanne, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) - One-third of schools in canton Vaud were affected Tuesday as civil servants took to the streets again to protest the new salary grid. The crowd, estimated by TSR at 8-10,000 people, is one of the largest in the series of protests that began in January 2008.
EPFL's new life sciences building, 2008: life sciences at the university in Lausanne is shared by several disciplines rather than belonging to one department
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Neuroprostheses is a mouthful of a word for what is essentially a simple concept: devices are implanted into the human body to help it compensate for or repair deficiencies caused by neurological problems. EPFL’s new Center for Prostheses, which opens officially 1 January 2009, is taking on the work of researching and developing such devices.
The simplicity of the concept hides the enormous complexity of the task, which requires combining skills in several scientific disciplines. It will mean pushing our understanding of how the neurological system functions well past the understanding we have today.
EPFL notes in its press release for the centre that “recent progress in artificial retinas and man-machine interfaces that permit communication or action via thoughts alone gives us a glimpse of the possibilities the future might hold for improving the lives of the handicapped.” Between that glimpse and the ambitious project’s goals, lies a mountain of R&D to climb.
The devices themselves will most likely be made of sensors, connections and electronic chips. The “deficiencies” may be lack of vision or hearing, a combination of several motor skills that have not developed properly or have been lost. In the most extreme situations, a person might have such limited motor skills that even blinking is impaired, making it impossible to use the best external devices currently available to compensate such handicaps.
The Center for Neuroprostheses will bring together in a major project researchers from a wide range of specialties within the fields of life sciences, engineering and information technology, working to create implants that are linked directly to the body’s neurological system. EPFL says no such team exists in the world today - and it is determined to put together what will be the world’s leading centre, “situated at the crossroads between fundamental research, clinical applications and market opportunities.”
This requires large sums of money, clearly. The university has found funding for five chairs, each one financed for 10 years. Its commitment to research that has clear commercial benefits means that more funds from the healthcare industry are likely to follow. EPFL will also be able to play on the notoriety gained from its cutting edge research for very different projects, such as its contributions to the Alinghi boat project and Solar Impulse, a solar-powered airplane. Whle the projects may seem related, some of the underlying research could prove helpful. The Solar Impulse project, for example, involves developing tools that use the nervous system to help pilot Bertrand Piccard fly, another area of human-machine interface.
Jeffrey Alan Hubbell, EPFL
Jeffrey Alan Hubbell, an American who has been with EPFL for nearly five years as professor of regenerative medicine and pharmacobiology laboratory, is overseeing the project. He told GenevaLunch that the centre will initially focus on working with physically handicapped people, rather than people with mental disabilities, many of whom also have physical disabilities, in some cases very severe. “There’s just so much out there, so much to cover,” he concedes. The task is daunting and EPFL, to make good progrress, will remain sharply focused for now on rehabilitation: motricity and helping children who are deaf and without language to hear and to speak.
The Bertarelli Foundation is funding two chairs as part of its mission to support cutting edge research to improve health, and its commitment to the local community: one in neuroengineering and neuroprostheses and the other in neurophysiology and cochlear coding implants.
Defitech, the foundation created by Daniel and Sylviane Borel, works with young people, especially young adults with disabilities, to encourage them to use information technology. The foundation is funding one chair: non-invasive man-machine interfaces, as part of its larger mission to promote research and development of new technologies that can help people with mental or physical disabilities.
Defitech in the past two years made a name for itself by setting up Internet corners for children and adolescents in Swiss hospitals, a successful venture that is now independent of the foundation, in Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich hospitals. It is now focusing on encouraging companies to take on teenagers with major disabilities who have been mainstreamed in schools but who, as they leave, are unable to find work or meaningful activities. The foundation’s work with them, to develop their use of computers, could prove useful contacts in the field for EPFL’s research as it progresses.
The other two chairs will be financed by the Sandoz Family Foundation and the International foundation for paraplegic research.
Related article: “EPFL announces new research centre for neuroprostheses,” 12 November 2008, GenevaLunch
Ernesto Bertarelli, Patrick Aebischer, Sylviane Borel, Daniel Borel at the announcement of EPFL's new Center for Neuroprostheses, Lausanne
Lausanne, Vaud (GenevaLunch) - EPFL is creating five chairs as part of a new “world class” Center for Neuroprostheses. These are devices embedded in the body to repair neurological deficiencies, from hearing and vision problems to a potentially wider range of disabilities. The new centre, which opens in January 2009, will be the first in the world to bring together under one roof a multidisciplinary team from the fields of neuroscience, engineering and information technology, for research in this area.
Lausanne, Vaud (20 Minutes, Fre) - The Vaud cantonal council Monday night voted in favour of a motion that calls for a study to determine whether or not the canton should loan the Swiss federal government CHF1 million for a third rail line and additional autoroute lane between Geneva and Lausanne, to reduce growing traffic congestion in the region. The population in Vaud alone is expected to grow by another 100,000 in the next 12 years, from its current 770,000.
Title: Lausanne Christmas market
Location: Lausanne, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: Handicrafts and other Swiss typical gifts for sale.
Start Date: 30 Nov 2008
End Date: 24 Dec 2008
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - One of the more curious inventions for moving people into a museum is under consideration in Lausanne: a cup and saucer ferry, without pilot and run by tele-command, could operate between the M2 metro stop in Ouchy and the new fine arts museum to be built along the lakefront.
Title: Antiques exhibit and sale
Location: Lausanne, Vaud
Date: 22 Nov 2008
Title: Christmas festivities in Lausanne
Location: Lausanne, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: Evening activities, shopping and more
Start Date: 22 Nov 2008
End Date: 24 Dec 2008
Title: Children’s used clothing sale
Location: Sous-gare, Lausanne
Link out: Click here
Description: Children clothing sale, exhibits and more.
Date: 01 Nov 2008
Title: Jazz festival in Lausanne
Location: Lausanne, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: These series of concerts are dedicated to American jazz.
Start Date: 28 Oct 2008
End Date: 02 Nov 2008
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Attention passengers: it is time to get on board. As of Monday 27 October, Lausanne will officially become the world’s smallest city with a metro system.
Lausanne, Switzerland (RSR, Fre) - The new M2 urban transport system in Lausanne, inaugurated 18 September but only partially opened, is expected to go into full swing 27 October or 2 November 2008.
Lausanne, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - A new park between Flon and Sévelin, under the Pont Chauderon, and an elevator car running from the Vallon quarter up to the University hospitals (CHUV) are among the new project proposals that Lausanne’s council will be considering in coming weeks.
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - Vaud’s capital city, Lausanne, will see its debt deepen slightly, to CHF2.3 billion in 2009, if the budget proposed by Mayor Daniel Brélaz is approved.The debt has increased steadily, despite tight budget controls, while at the same time Vaud has cut its debt by one-third, reports 24 Heures, which runs a lengthy interview with Brélaz.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - City budgets have possibly never been more difficult to plan, with the impact of the global economic crisis leaving forecasts with large question marks over them. In this context, Lausanne’s city council Wednesday labouriously approved a 2009 budget, finally opting for a CHF10.1 million expected deficit.
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - A cantonal commission is meeting today with the heads of the cantonal police and the gendarmerie to put an end to tensions and what 24 Heures describes as a quarrel between the two men that has been worsening over the past six years.
Lausanne, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - Socialists in Lausanne are pushing to have alcohol sales start at 06:00 or 07:00 rather than the current 05:00 in some 30 outlets in the city.
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - Niko Mikkola of Finland is the newest arrival at the Lausanne Hockey Club. The Finnish player has a one-month trial contract with the team.
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) - Ecal (University of Art and Design of Lausanne) has begun its new master’s degree, a one-year programme in luxury design that aims to fill a gap in the design world, with a focus on sustainable development and new technologies as part of design work at the highest level.
Lausanne, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) - Vaud’s police officers have taken off their badges, are refusing to hand out small fines or to check truck weights in protest over pay issues.
Lausane, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Lausanne was the place to be in the Lake Geneva area this past weekend, with 280,000 people attending the 100-plus free concerts given as part of Label Suisse, organized by public radio RSR.
Lausanne, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) - The number of students opting for a master’s degree at the University of Lausanne, who did their undergraduate studies elsewhere is well above the Read more…
Title: Lausanne marathon
Location: Lausanne
Description: On the shores of Lake Geneva
Date: 2008-10-26
Title: Artisan & handicrafts market
Location: Lausanne
Description: Every first Friday of the month until November
Date: 2008-08-01
