Annual Report 2023

Tenants at Balgrist Campus

The Balgrist Campus had no changes in tenants in the reporting year; only one start-up moved out due to successful growth and the resulting increase in space requirements.

We welcomed a new research group from Balgrist University Hospital to the Balgrist Campus: Prof. Inge Herrmann took up her position as head of the Ingenuity Lab on September 1, 2023 and is researching innovative developments in the fields of medical materials and technologies.

Projects and special assignments

The introduction of the new Data Protection Act led to new or additional contracts and information letters with all stakeholders (employees, suppliers, customers, researchers, etc.).

As a measure against potential power shortages and associated cyclical shutdowns - from which the Balgrist Campus as a research infrastructure would not be exempt - the cold rooms of the WetLab were connected to the emergency power supply in order to minimize the potential for loss of samples.

A periodic fire inspection was carried out in the reporting year, which was approved without any objections thanks to careful preparation and support from the technical service of Balgrist University Hospital.

In the interests of sustainable power generation, the Board of Directors decided to install a photovoltaic system, which will be installed in 2024.

Events and visits

The established "Balgrist Campus Seminar Series" was successfully continued in 2023 and is very popular. The aim of this event is to promote inter-institutional networking on Balgrist Campus and to provide exciting insights into various research-relevant topics.

The joint "Research Day" of Balgrist University Hospital and the Balgrist Campus, which took place for the 5th time in the reporting year, was also a highlight in 2023.

The Balgrist Campus was once again visited by a wide variety of domestic and foreign groups and delegations in the reporting year, including visits from Austria, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Germany, and companies from the MedTech, pharmaceutical and life science consulting sectors visited us from Switzerland.

Finances

The annual result for 2023 is encouraging and closed with a surplus of around CHF 25,000. On the income side, rental income was achieved as budgeted thanks to full occupancy and a stable tenant base. Costs were also kept within budget.

With regard to the open research platforms, personnel and operating costs are still covered by federal contributions until the end of 2024. The fixed advance loan required for the construction of the new platforms co-financed by the federal government and the high investment costs was repaid in full in the reporting year. The equipment will be depreciated over the entire funding period of 8 years. The Balgrist Association and the Balgrist Foundation have provided generous loans. Amortization began in the reporting year in accordance with the contract. The Board of Directors would like to express its sincere thanks for this support.

Accounting and payments were handled by Interconsulta AG, Zurich. The audit was carried out by Lienhard Audit AG.

Organization

At the 12th Annual General Meeting on June 27, 2023, all proposals of the Board of Directors were accepted/confirmed. As part of its support for the three platforms, the Swiss Confederation has observer status on the Board of Directors (without voting rights). Balgrist Campus AG appreciates the good cooperation with the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support.

The Board of Directors held four meetings in 2023. Discussions focused on finances, including the long-term financing of the three open research platforms, the allocation of space, the determination of amortization requirements and the resulting rental income, as well as the potential electricity shortage. In addition, a visit to the three open research platforms was used to exchange information with the platform managers.

Thanks to

For the second time, the Balgrist Campus was able to receive and operate a 3D printer donated by Medacta. This ensures the long-term service of 3D printing at Balgrist Campus for all groups, as the first printer has been in operation for more than 10 years and spare parts are no longer available.

The year 2023 was dominated by preparations and planning for the years 2025 ff. when federal funding will cease. Initial discussions were held with representatives of the city and canton as well as with the Academy.

In addition, the Balgrist Campus has submitted a new project to the federal government for the 2025-2028 roadmap, which is a logical continuation of the existing three platforms:
the "Swiss Center for Musculoskeletal Computing (SCMC)". The SCMC is intended to form the basis for the development of freely accessible digital technologies that will lead to measurable progress in the shared use and implementation of data-driven personalized medicine.

The SCMC will build on data provided by the three existing platforms at the Balgrist Campus and/or other initiatives and institutes and will position itself as the optimal incubator for data-driven musculoskeletal models. In connection with this application, a delegation from the Swiss Science Council (SWR) visited the Balgrist Campus at the end of November. The SERI (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation) has commissioned the SWR to review the new applications and make a corresponding recommendation for future funding.

With regard to publicizing and networking the three platforms, various events and congresses were attended in the reporting year and exchanges were maintained with other research institutions of national importance (BITg Biotechnology Institute Thurgau).

SCMI (Swiss Center for Musculoskeletal Imaging)
The team at the Swiss Center for Musculoskeletal Imaging (SCMI), headed by Prof. Daniel Nanz, functions as an independent research and development unit and as a research service unit. In the reporting year, income was increased by carrying out research and clinical studies. In the area of photon counting CT, the collaboration with Siemens Healthineers was steadily intensified: The work of the radiology research fellow (Dr. A. Marth, joined on February 1), who is funded on a 50/50 basis, resulted in 4 publications in the reporting year. In March, the hardware and software of our 7T MRI device were upgraded to the latest version (upgrade from "Terra" to "Terra.X"). In addition, a non-CE-certified knee coil with improved homogeneity of signal illumination was put into operation. However, the 7T device still only has market approval for the head and knee with the old coil. Methodological MRI research is restricted due to regulatory requirements (ClinV-MEP, Cat. C): The corresponding effort can hardly be justified for most projects.

• In the year under review, members of the SCMI team were co-authors of 12 original papers, while the SCMI was acknowledged in a further 20 peer-reviewed publications.
  The two pulse sequences available as "work-in-progress" software packages, which were developed in the SCMI, will also be revised for the next Siemens software releases.
• Together with Siemens, a patent was registered for an invention in the field of image contrast optimization methods and a new patent was applied for.
• In the reporting year, examinations were carried out and invoiced as part of 71 projects. Partners from outside the Canton of Zurich were involved in 13 of these projects, and international partners in a further 13 projects.
• The SCMI continued to act as one of two central imaging institutions in a national study financed by SUVA, in which patients from 4 hospitals in the Canton of Zurich and the Cantonal Hospital of Baden were examined at the SCMI. The first publication of this study has now been published.
• Two multi-center studies at the Paraplegic Center (national and international) were also continued.

SCMB (Swiss Center for Musculoskeletal Biobanking)
The SCMB, headed by Dr. Sander Botter, acts as a national reference center for the collection, analysis and storage of tissue and body fluid samples from patients with musculoskeletal diseases. Patient consent is secured in advance and recorded electronically, and only encrypted patient data is used.

In 2023, the SCMB was able to start two new biobank projects, one of which is supported by The Loop Zurich. In total, the SCMB has managed 30 projects in parallel.

In addition to sample processing as a service, the SCMB also carries out independent research projects, which continue to be financially supported by a commercial partner. There is still sufficient capacity to store further tissue samples.

In 2023, the SCMB was successfully recertified by the Swiss Biobanking Platform and thus retains the "Vita", "Norma" and "Optima" quality certificates. Unfortunately, the ISO 20387 accreditation could not yet be implemented due to a lack of offers from the Swiss Accreditation Service (SAS). In addition to the storage infrastructure, the SCMB also provides infrastructure for processing and analysis.

Communication of biobank activities continues to be of great importance. In the reporting year, one publication was published under first authorship, and the SCMB was mentioned in two other publications. The SCMB was also represented with an information stand at the 2nd Annual Congress of iPSZurich (organized by the Institute of Regenerative Medicine, UZH) and at the LS2 Annual Meeting 2023 (Life Sciences Switzerland).

SCMA (Swiss Center for Movement Analysis)
The SCMA, headed by PD Dr. Linard Filli, offers researchers a highly specialized infrastructure for the precise analysis of movement sequences and has profound expertise in the field of quantitative movement analysis. In addition to the services mentioned above, the SCMA group actively conducts its own research projects, which are financed by competitive third-party funding (Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF and Balgrist Foundation).

The SCMA is constantly striving to integrate new technologies and to further develop them itself in order to advance the field of motion analysis. To this end, the SCMA regularly develops customized products with external partners, such as a new, modulatable stair-ramp construction that enables detailed motion analysis when walking on uneven surfaces and has great potential for research projects in fall prevention.

In total, the SCMA carried out measurements for 8 research projects in the reporting year and was represented with 3 publications. The SCMA platform is used by various research groups at Balgrist University Hospital, the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich to conduct clinical research projects. Two ETH spin-off companies have also used the SCMA platform for their research projects. The Center's own research activities are supported by motivated students and doctoral candidates from the University of Zurich and ETH.

The Board of Directors and management would like to thank all employees and users of the Campus for their excellent cooperation and especially all supporters for their substantial help, without which research at the highest level would not be possible.