UZH Space Hub Director

Prof. mult. Dr.med. Dr.rer.nat. Oliver Ullrich

Oliver Ullrich is Full Professor and Director of the Innovation Cluster Space and Aviation of the University of Zurich (UZH Space Hub), specialized in Anatomy, Cell Biology, Immunology and Aerospace Medicine, Professor of Space Medicine (EAH Jena, Germany), Professor of Space Biotechnology (University of Magdeburg, Germany) and Adjunct Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, elected Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, Vice President of the German Society for Aerospace Medicine, President of the Swiss SkyLab Foundation, member and chair of different advisory boards for aerospace agencies and companies and recipient of several national and international research and teaching awards.  Among those is the  Life Sciences Award by the International Academy of Astronautics which he received 2023 for his innovative research in space life sciences. He is a physician and biochemist (FU Berlin) and also graduated in “Teologia del Popolo di Dio” at the Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican. He is an active investigator for the ESA and NASA Space Life Sciences research program, with 17 years of experience as scientific leader of parabolic flight, suborbital ballistic rocket and International Space Station (ISS) missions.

He is committed to the utilization of space and actively supports entrepreneurship and public-private innovation partnerships. As such, he has been a senior consultant for industrial companies in the DLR-Go Space program, founder of three start-up companies in two countries, and is leading a public-private partnership with Airbus in the field of "tissue engineering in space".

He is a leader of coordinated multi-platform and multi-cell-type approaches aiming for understanding the molecular mechanisms of gravitational force transduction into the chromatin architecture, function and gene regulation homeostasis determined by Earth’s gravity. To understand immune regulation in space at an integrated level is a requirement for appropriate risk assessment, medical monitoring and potential countermeasures during exploration class missions.

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