Prof Kirsten Mertz is a senior pathologist affiliated with University Hospital Basel and Head of the Molecular Pathology and Cytopathology service at the Cantonal Hospital Baselland. She is a clinician scientist with more than 10 years’ (inter)national experience in clinical, molecular and digital pathology. Her scientific focus is on infectious pathology, immunopathology and molecular oncology. Prof Mertz is driven by a fascination for science and by an ambition to translate ideas into individual health innovation. The Molecular Pathology and Cytopathology lab’s main focus is on molecular diagnostics of cancer and the pathology of infections. The lab routinely uses NGS (next-generation sequencing) to characterize solid tumours and PCR-based analyses to detect specific pathogens in human biopsies. In parallel to routine diagnostics, the lab performs molecular biological experiments to support translational research. They are currently developing metagenomics assays to screen for pathogens in patient tissue samples.