Randall J. Platt is an associate professor of biological engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), an associate professor at the University of Basel, a Botnar Research Centre for Child Health Investigator and a National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Molecular Systems Engineering Investigator. His aim is to develop genetic perturbation and cellular programming technologies for diagnostics and therapeutics, primarily in the areas of brain science and the gut microbiome.

Platt’s major research interests include biological engineering, synthetic biology, functional genomics and molecular medicine. His core research themes include the development of new gene editing methods with a particular focus on in vivo and multiplexing applications in the context of autism spectrum disorder (Platt et al., Cell, 2014; Platt et al., Cell Reports, 2017; Campa et al., Nature Methods, 2019); engineering microbial cells to record and manipulate intestinal physiology and the gut microbiota (Schmidt et al., Nature, 2018; Schmidt et al., Science, 2022); and high-throughput forward genetic screening in animal models to identify disease drivers, diagnostic biomarkers, drug targets and delivery vectors (Chow et al., Nature Neurosci., 2017; Wang et al., Science Advances, 2018; Santinha et al., Nature, 2023).

Platt has earned numerous distinctions for his research, including the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35, Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, Stanislaw Lem European Research Prize, EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Young Investigator Award, ETH Zurich Latsis Prize, Nature Research Award for Driving Global Impact (runner up), and Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year Life Science Award.