Zurich Biosecurity Hub
We want more people in Switzerland working on catastrophic biological risk.
Join us at our next event
Dr. Erik Jentzen
Chau Tran
Illia Onipko
Anatole Chouard
What we offer
Five ways in, choose what suits you best:
Lectures and workshops
Public talks at ETH Zurich, open to everyone, no background required.
Paper reading group
Monthly discussions of current work in the field, at UZH Irchel and online.
Who we are
The Zurich Biosecurity Hub is a small group that meets in Zurich. We read papers, we bring in speakers, and we help people who want to work on biological risk work out where to start.
There is no membership and nothing to sign. Come to a talk and see whether it is for you!
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Dr. Erik Jentzen
Project lead. Physician, working on biosecurity in Switzerland.
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Chau Tran
PhD candidate in medical virology, University of Zurich.
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Illia Onipko
MSc in biotechnology, ETH Zurich. ERA AIxBio Fellow.
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Anatole Chouard
Science communicator. MSc in applied mathematics, École Polytechnique.
Why this matters
2% a year
Estimated probability of a pandemic on the scale of COVID‑19, with the risk of novel outbreaks projected to grow.
4 to 10%
Forecasters' and domain experts' estimate that an engineered pathogen kills more than 1% of humanity by 2100.
1 of 27
Countries with a BSL‑4 laboratory that have comprehensive oversight of dual-use research.
Around one billion dollars a year goes to reducing catastrophic biological risk specifically, against roughly 130 billion for outbreak preparedness overall (80,000 Hours, 2024).
Upcoming events
Everything we run is on one calendar. Subscribe to not miss any session!
We will also be at the Swiss AI Safety Days on 7 and 8 November 2026 at ETH Zurich. AI safety and biosecurity overlap more than the names suggest; our session AI Meets Biology on 12 October sits right on that line.
Programmes
Lectures and workshops
Biosecurity Futures runs at ETH Zurich in the autumn semester 2026. Five introductory sessions. They do not build on each other, so come to one or come to all five.
Wednesday 30 September
Worse Than Nature
Monday 12 October
AI Meets Biology
Wednesday 28 October
Mirror Life
Wednesday 11 November
The Air We Share
Wednesday 2 December
Layers of Defence
Fellowship
A structured course on globally catastrophic biological risks for a small group. It works through the field in sequence: how a pandemic could be engineered rather than emerge, what AI changes in the laboratory, how outbreaks are detected, how synthesis orders are screened, which countermeasures work whatever the pathogen, and how all of this is governed.
Each unit pairs reading you do on your own with a facilitated discussion in the group, so everyone arrives with the same material and the time together goes into questions rather than summaries. The curriculum is adapted from the BlueDot Impact biosecurity course. No background in biology is needed; the reading is chosen to work for people from engineering, medicine, computer science and policy.
Applications are open. Dates, format and how to apply are on our Luma calendar, where the fellowship is listed with the other events.
Paper reading group
The reading group has been meeting for about a year and is the oldest part of the Hub. We meet roughly once a month at the University of Zurich Irchel, and you can join online if you cannot be there.
Each session takes one paper or report, circulated in advance. One person introduces it briefly, then the rest of the time is discussion: what the authors claim, whether the evidence holds up, and what it would mean for policy or for work in a lab. Sessions this autumn cover barriers to bioweapons development and the Biological Weapons Convention.
Newcomers are welcome at any session, and reading the paper is the only preparation. Next meetings are on the calendar.
Career advising
One-to-one conversations about working on these problems: what to read, which programmes to apply for, who to talk to. To get started, introduce yourself in a short form so we know what you are working on, then write to info@zurichbiosecurity.ch and we will set up a conversation.
Coworking space
The Hub is based at PEAKS, a shared office at Zeughausstrasse 31 in Zurich, a short walk from the main station and close to ETH and the University of Zurich. It is a coworking space for people working on the largest risks: AI safety researchers, independent researchers and visitors passing through, and now the Zurich Biosecurity Hub.
Sitting among people who work on adjacent problems is part of the point. If you work on biosecurity and want a desk, or want to see the place first, PEAKS runs public coworking days on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Details and sign-up are on the PEAKS website, or write to us and come along with someone from the Hub.
Get in touch
Come to a session, or write to us first.
The talks are open to everyone. If you are thinking about working on this, we can point you at courses, fellowships and people.
Already know you want to get involved? Introduce yourself and tell us what you are working on, and we will point you to the right people and programmes.