Raphael Pauli found out about the degree in nanosciences at the University of Basel via an internet search in 2019. After his time at the cantonal school in Baden, he knew he wanted to do a degree in the areas of physics, chemistry and biology. “The nanoscience degree offered the broadest possible grounding and only be- came more specialized at a later stage — that’s why I chose it,” Raphael recalls. During his studies, the wide-ranging practical activities were a real highlight for him. “I particularly enjoyed the hands-on courses and above all the re- search work in the various groups as part of the block courses, as well as the project and master’s work,” he says. Leaning toward biotechnology and medical subjects Thanks to the sheer diversity of the bach- elor’s, it became increasingly clear to him over the course of the program that, in order to go down a biological/medical route in the future, the best option was to take the medical nanosciences special- ization as part of the master’s program. In keeping with this, Raphael chose proj- ects at the university hospital and at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. It was also clear to him from an early stage that he wanted to go straight into employment after completing his studies and that a doctoral dissertation was out Exploring alternatives to cancer diagnostics Master’s prize for Raphael Pauli This year, the prize for the best master’s thesis goes to Raphael Pauli. In his project at BÜHLMANN Laboratories, Raphael investigated synthetic proteins that could one day play a role in colorectal cancer diagnostics. A promising synthetic alternative Until now, tests of this kind have relied on antibodies from the blood of rabbits, but BÜHLMANN Laboratories is inter- ested in a synthetic alternative — which is where Raphael’s work comes in. “One promising option are a form of small, artificially produced proteins known as sybodies, which can be de- signed in the lab and produced in cell cultures in order to bind to specific mol- ecules in a targeted manner,” Raphael explains. The problem with the hemoglo- bin-detecting sybodies tested so far, how- ever, is that they are too quick to break away from their target molecule again and are therefore unsuitable for reliable tests. Raphael’s approach in his master’s project was to make the system more sta- ble by combining multiple sybodies into larger complexes — similar to natural antibodies, which are also each made up of four subunits. Hailing from the Canton of Aargau, the young researcher therefore used cell cultures to produce various sy- body variants with different numbers of sybodies. Based on ELISA tests, he simul- taneously tested the expression of the constructs and their binding to hemoglo- bin. Using a technique known as bio-layer interferometry, Raphael was then also able to show not only that all of the ana- lyzed complexes bind to hemoglobin suc- of the question. In order to gain valuable experience for his job search, he there- fore aimed to do his master’s thesis in industry. Through contacts within the nano network, he got in touch with for- mer nanoscience student Dr. Michael Ger- spach at BÜHLMANN Laboratories, who forwarded Raphael’s request internally at the company. Master’s thesis all about colorectal cancer diagnostics This led Raphael to the team of Dr. Sara Bantleon, Lead Manager Industrial Engi- neering & Business Excellence at BÜHL- MANN Laboratories. As part of this six- month master’s thesis, Raphael worked with small synthetic proteins known as sybodies, which may one day play a role in colorectal cancer diagnostics. “Colorectal cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer worldwide and can only be treated effectively if it is di- agnosed early,” explains Bantleon, who supervised Raphael’s work. “With this in mind, we’re developing a sensitive immu- nochemical laboratory test that can quan- titatively detect even the smallest amounts of hemoglobin — in other words, blood — in stool samples. This al- lows us to pick up a key warning signal for colorectal cancer or its precursors, known as colorectal polyps.” 4 SNI INSight June 2026