Faculty of Medicine

Research

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern offers the best conditions for high-quality and future-oriented research. Close links between basic research, engineering sciences, and the university hospitals provide a unique environment for translational and patient-centered clinical research. Our strategic focus is on cross-disciplinary research priorities.

The excellence of our research is reflected, among other things, in our success in acquiring competitively awarded external funding. Internal funding instruments are specifically designed to complement the external instruments and offer attractive opportunities for early-career researchers in particular.

New Therapeutic Approaches for Leukemia

Luca Palombella received an MD-PhD grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for his project “The Role of TRAF2 and NCK-interacting Kinase in the Regulation of Acute Myeloid Leukemia”.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common form of leukemia in adults and is initiated by leukemia stem cells (LSCs). LSCs are the main cause of relapse due to their resistance to chemotherapy and represent a critical target for new therapeutic approaches. TRAF2 and NCK-interacting kinase (TNIK) is a key molecule in several oncogenic signaling pathways. In AML patients, high TNIK expression correlates with poor survival and is involved in LSCs maintenance.
Luca Palombella aims to elucidate the mechanisms of how TNIK regulates hematopoiesis and AML development. By using genetically engineered mouse models and primary leukemia samples from AML patients, he will investigate the role of TNIK in hematopoietic stem cells, natural killer cells, and LSCs function. By large-scale screening of already existing drugs, he will try to identify TNIK-inhibiting molecules that could selectively target LSCs.

Luca Palombella, Department of Medical Oncology, Department for BioMedical Research, and Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences

Better Cardiac Transplantations

Rahel Ottersberg received an MD-PhD grant from the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS) for her project “Ex-vivo heart perfusion enables innovations in cardiac transplantation and precision therapies”.
Her research forms part of a collaborative, translational research effort to explore and extend the boundaries of ex-vivo heart perfusion (EVHP). EVHP technology maintains the heart in a beating state outside the body and is expected to have significant benefits in heart transplantation, such as better cardiac graft assessment and limiting ischemic graft damage, as well as to enable new precision therapies.
Rahel Ottersberg will focus on three key aspects: i) investigating new biomarkers of cardiac graft quality enabled by EVHP; ii) optimizing existing EVHP protocols to extend out-of-body times, and iii) exploring the application of gene therapy during EVHP using a rabbit model. The combination of extending EHVP durations with new cardiac biomarkers and cardiac precision therapies holds great promise towards realizing the full potential of EVHP.

Rahel Ottersberg, Department for BioMedical Research and Department of Cardiac Surgery

Pathophysiology of Alzheimer's Disease

Felix Pompizii received an MD-PhD grant from the Dementia Research Switzerland – Synapsis Foundation for his project “Restoring cortical brain dynamics during sleep to rescue cognition in Alzheimer’s disease”.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by cognitive malfunction due to impaired processing and retrieving of information, downscaled memory consolidation, and perturbated sleep-wake cycles. Cortical circuits in the prefrontal and the hippocampal cortex represent key structures for understanding and modeling the pathophysiological mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease. By unraveling the complex relationship between AD and sleep-related dysfunctions in prefrontal and hippocampal microcircuits, new therapeutic approaches to treat AD patients could be identified.
Felix Pompizii’s research aims (1) to identify alterations of pyramidal and interneuron cell dynamics across sleep-wake states in prefrontal and hippocampal microcircuits and (2) to restore proper excitation/inhibition balance and rescue cognitive impairment in AD mouse models. The project will provide a detailed overview and mapping of changes in the distribution, morphology, and activity of pyramidal neurons and interneurons in AD mouse models across sleep-wake states and highlight possible cognitive improvements during wakefulness after normalizing pyramidal neuron and interneuron activity during sleep.

Felix Pompizii, Department of Neurology

Collaborative Pairs Pilot Project Award of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Prof. Dr. Antoine Adamantidis and Dr. Ludovic Mure received a Collaborative Pairs Pilot Project Award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to study the relationship between altered light perception, sleep disruption, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Light is the main signal that aligns our sleep/wake cycles to the day/night cycles (circadian rhythms). One of the earliest symptoms of AD and related dementias is a disruption of sleep and circadian rhythms. This may appear years before the cognitive symptoms of the disease. Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells appear to play a key role in this early stage of AD. With their combined expertise, Adamantidis and Mure will evaluate how the function of these cells is altered with AD and define the time course of this alteration relative to other AD symptoms such as cognitive decline.

Prof. Dr. Antoine Adamantidis, Director of the Center for Experimental Neurology (ZEN), Department of Neurology, and Dr. Ludovic Mure, Research Group Leader at the Department of Ophthalmology

Pfizer Research Prize 2024 in Neuroscience and Neurology

Dr. Florence Aellen and Prof. Dr. Athina Tzovara received the Pfizer Research Prize in Neuroscience and Neurology for their research on using AI to predict the chances of recovery from a coma.
The researchers showed, for the first time, systematic evidence that a deep learning framework can disentangle auditory processing in coma patients and assist in prognosticating their chances of recovery. This work not only provides novel insights on neural functions that are preserved without consciousness but may further have implications for the field of neuro-critical care and outcome prognostication.

Dr. Florence Aellen and Prof. Dr. Athina Tzovara, Experimental Neurology Center in the Department of Neurology and Institute of Computer Science, University of Bern

Pfizer Research Prize 2024 in Oncology

Dr. Joanna Triscott received the Pfizer Research Prize in Oncology for her research on the role of the lesser-known lipid regulator PI5P4Kα in prostate cancer and its relationship with androgen hormone signaling.
Joanna Triscott and her colleagues showed the importance of lipid regulation during metabolic stress adaptation in prostate cancer, particularly under androgen deprivation. Their work suggests that targeting the enzyme PI5P4Kα could disrupt the metabolic adaptation of prostate cancer as it progresses, which makes PI5P4Kα a potential target for the development of new drugs against prostate cancer.

Dr. Joanna Triscott, Department for BioMedical Research, University of Bern