A Single Vaccine Against Coronaviruses is a step closer
Bellinzona, August 6th 2021 – The spillovers of β-coronaviruses in humans and the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants highlight the need for broad coronavirus countermeasures. A study co-authored by Dr. Jun Siong Low, Postdoc at the Cellular Immunology lab directed by Prof. Federica Sallusto at IRB (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, affiliated to USI) and […]
Antonino Cassotta awarded the SAIS prize for best PhD thesis in life science
June 28, 2021: The Società degli Accademici italiani in Svizzera (SAIS) awards Italian students that pursued their PhD in Switzerland by offering three prizes for the best doctoral theses, one for each of these fields: 1) STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), 2) life sciences, and 3) human sciences (social, political and legal sciences). On […]
10° giornata della Ricerca della Svizzera italiana – Best original publication 2020 under 35 awarded to Dr. Stefan Emming
June 25, 2021: During the 10° giornata della Ricerca della Svizzera italiana, organized by the EOC Clinical Trial Unit and the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), held at USI in Lugano on Friday, June 25, 2021, Dr. Stefan Emming was awarded for the “Best original publication 2020 (under 35)” prize for the paper entitled “A […]
Liver disease associated to alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency: a paper by Molinari’s lab published in the EMBO Journal uncovers the signals encoding clearance of ATZ polymers
About 10% of the children with alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency must undergo liver transplantation. Their hepatocytes fail to properly degrade polymers of mutant alpha1-antitrypsin (ATZ), whose accumulation is highly toxic to cells. In these patients, elusive genetic and/or environmental modifiers contribute to the harmful progression of the disease caused by the Z mutation, thus resulting in dramatic […]
LICTOR, a new powerful tool to prevent systemic light-chain amyloidosis
Systemic light-chain amyloidosis (AL) is the most common form of a group of diseases associated with protein misfolding, leading to deposition of insoluble structures in different organs. Due to the AL non-specific symptoms, an early diagnosis is often not possible. Nevertheless, a prompt detection is essential to prevent organ failure and death. A study published […]
Prof. Petr Cejka appointed member of EMBO
Bellinzona, June 8, 2021 – The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has appointed Prof. Petr Cejka, group leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI), as one of its new members. This is the third time that a researcher active in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland has been appointed by the […]
Immunologists decipher the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by CD4+ T lymphocytes in COVID-19 recovered patients
Bellinzona, May 18th 2021 – An international team of researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, affiliated to the Università della Svizzera italiana, has deciphered, at single cell resolution, the T cell responses occurring during COVID-19 infection. This study, which was performed at the Center of Medical Immunology under the leadership of Prof. Federica […]
The Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine conferred to Prof. Antonio Lanzavecchia
Bellinzona, May 20, 2021. Antonio Lanzavecchia, founding Director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine for 20 years, Professor of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at the USI and Professor at the D-BIOL’s Institute of Microbiology at the ETH Zurich, is given the Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine from the Jung Foundation for his […]
Towards an institutional culture of Respect
From: EPFL, Lausanne, Founding member of the Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, EPFL; Vice President EPFL for Responsible Transformation Hosts contact: Maurizio Molinari, Silvia Monticelli Date: 17.05.2021 12:00 Speakers: Gisou van der Goot Virtual Conference
New paper from the Cavalli’s lab: computational identification of an allosteric binding site in TMPRSS2
A new paper from the Cavalli’s lab describes the computational identification of a novel putative allosteric binding site in the protein TMPRSS2. The membrane bound serine protease TMPRSS2 is one of the proteases responsible for the proteolytic priming of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein which leads to the release of the fusion peptide. Its inhibition represents, therefore, […]
