It has been a busy year for Salome. Not long after stepping into her new role at Bonebridge in the spring of 2024, she and her partner Marvin embraced another major change: they left the bustle of city life behind and moved to a quieter neighborhood on the outskirts of Zurich. With more space came the chance to fulfill a long-held dream: adopting a dog. Over the past few months, Salome and Marvin visited several shelters and finally found their perfect match in a young mixed breed called Minou. Rescued from the streets of Greece as a puppy, Minou was living in a foster home in Switzerland before joining their household. “Minou is actually a French term of endearment that also means cat, which is kind of ironic,” Salome says. “She already had the name when we got her, but she doesn’t always respond to it. We’re obviously still getting to know each other and have only just started her training.”
One of the biggest adjustments that comes with dog ownership has been rethinking their travel plans. For now, long-haul adventures are on hold in favor of shorter road trips – except, of course, for a trip in June to Salome’s beloved Sweden. In 2023, she spent four months working as a post-doctoral fellow at Linkoping University, where she examined a mechanism driving colorectal cancer. “I had always wanted to spend an extended time in Sweden, so I didn’t hesitate when the opportunity presented itself,” she says. “I definitely made the most of my time there. I worked at the lab, found new friends, and traveled the country. I even got to see the Northern Lights one night – definitely a highlight of my trip.” She usually tries to visit at least once or twice a year, and there are plenty of things she misses about Sweden when she’s back in Switzerland: the people’s ability to enjoy the moment, for example, or the wide-open spaces up North, and of course fika, the Swedish coffee culture.
Salome developed the concept for her postdoc and wrote the grant application while she was still completing her PhD at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Prior to that, she successfully completed a Master’s degree in biology at the University of Zurich (UZH). Though her academic career has been recognized with several awards (including the prestigious Paul Klee and Young Investigator Awards), a higher education in science wasn’t always her plan. Growing up, she envisioned becoming a neonatal nurse. “The healthcare industry felt like a natural path since both my parents work in the field,” she explains. “But I did well in school and was always fascinated by how things work, which ultimately led me to molecular biology. I’m drawn to questions like: How does a cell communicate? How does cancer develop? A doctorate gave me the chance to explore those questions more deeply and to really push my limits.”
After her time in Sweden, Salome started her professional career as a clinical development intern at Roche Diagnostics International – her first exposure to a QM-regulated environment that offered an interesting glimpse into the workings of a large corporation. Bonebridge first showed up on her radar when she started looking for a permanent position. “After my first interview, I was convinced that the start-up environment was a great match for me,” she says. “I love how every day is different and somewhat unpredictable. And I’m still extremely impressed with how quickly Bonebridge manages to bring new products to the market.“
In her spare time, Salome stays active with swimming, gym workouts, and group fitness classes. She’s also tried CrossFit and aerial yoga. To unwind, she enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, or doing macrame. Salome also has a strong interest in social justice, which was initially sparked by a volunteering experience she had at age eighteen: She spent three months working in Ecuador, where she looked after children whose parents struggled to take care of them. “It was the first time I ever spent outside of Europe, and although I spoke Spanish, there was definitely a culture clash between my sheltered life in Switzerland and the conditions I found in South America.” Since 2024, she has volunteered for an organization called SEET, which offers a study and work support program for refugees. She currently coaches a Turkish political refugee who would like to study social work in Switzerland. They frequently chat online and also meet up in person every few weeks – time Salome is happy to take away from her busy schedule. “I’m very aware of the fact that we don’t live in a just world,” she says. “I want to make a small contribution to a society in which everyone can make the most of their opportunities.”