Sabrina Badir: "Use your dissertation as a basis for your business ideas."
Alumni Portraits
Biomechanic Sabrina Badir obtained her Bachelors' degree, Masters' degree and doctorate at ETH Zurich, although the course at ETH was actually a compromise. For her dissertation, she researched the link between cervical stiffness and premature births and developed a device to measure this. Together with a partner, Sabrina founded the ETH spin-off Pregnolia, which sailed through its second round of financing in June 2020.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be?
When I was younger, I always wanted to be a doctor.
You obtained your Bachelors’ degree and Masters’ degree in Human Movement Sciences and Sport (BWS) at ETH Zurich and received your doctorate from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. What inspired you to study at ETH?
I hadn't actually even considered a course at ETH. The MINT subjects weren't my strong points. But when I sat the Numerus Clausus exam to study medicine and did very badly because I naively hadn't done enough preparation, I had to rethink things. The careers advice service then suggested that I study BWS at ETH because it’s a way into medicine and technology. I decided to follow this advice and, despite having some initial doubts, I came to ETH.
After obtaining your doctorate, you founded the ETH spin-off Pregnolia. How did your course at ETH help with this?
My course and my doctorate helped me
- to work independently but also to ask for help from within my networks if there was anything I didn’t know or was unsure of.
- to question everything and form my own, facts-based opinion.
- to recognise causal effects.
What does Pregnolia do?
There are still some areas of gynaecology and obstetrics that we don’t fully understand. For example, what triggers a birth? We are now working to close one of these gaps in our knowledge by being able to more reliably diagnose premature births. In order to do this, our system measures cervical stiffness.
Early data from clinical studies shows that measuring cervical stiffness rather than cervical length provides a more accurate indication of a potential premature birth. The Pregnolia system is a reliable and easy-to-use measuring device, which measures the stiffness of the cervix by means of a hand-held probe using negative pressure. The softer the tissue, the more likely a premature birth is. A large-scale clinical trial is currently underway. The data collected in this trial will form the basis for diagnostic guidance for practical gynaecological use.
What advice would you give today’s students?
I would reiterate the advice of Steve Jobs: “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” And I would add: Use your dissertation as a basis for your business ideas.
