Prof. Dr. Emma Slack

Emma Slack is an Full Professor for Mucosal Immunology in the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health (D-HEST) ETH Zurich. Her group develops mthodologies to study the within-host population dynamics of intestinal bacteria and applies these to better understand interactions between diet, the immune system and the intestinal microbiota.

Emma Slack studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, UK. She did her PhD thesis (2003-2006) with Caetano Reis e Sousa at the London Research Institute (CRUK), studying pattern recognition receptor signaling. From 2007-2011, she worked in the group of Prof Andrew Macpherson, first at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and then at the University of Bern, Switzerland. During this time, she focused on host-microbiota mutualism in conditions of innate immune deficiency in mice and in clinical settings. From 2011-2018, Emma was an Ambizione fellow (SNF) in the group of Wolf-Dietrich Hardt at the ETH Zürich. During this time, she focused on the function of adaptive immunity in controlling intestinal bacteria. She received the ETH Latsis prize 2017 for her work on understaning the mechanism of action of intestinal antibodies. Since joining ETH she has also played a large part in establishing germ-free and gnotobiotic animal facilities. The Mucosal Immunology group works on understanding the mechanistic links between intestinal bacteria, immunity and metabolism, with a major focus on developing new tools and methodologies.