COVID-19, study shows effectiveness of protective measures in hospitals in Ticino
A study performed in Ticino in Spring 2020, on data of SARS-CoV-2 serological tests run on healthcare workers, shows that COVID-19 antibodies are detectable in up to 10% of the participants. Such a result are comparable with the ones of the Corona Immunitas study conducted on the Ticino population. More importantly, it shows that healthcare […]
New Ebolavirus treatment sees the light thanks to basic research performed in Ticino
While populations around the world are being vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced the approval of a treatment against another well-known virus, much less widespread but extremely lethal: Ebola. The new drug was made possible thanks to the fundamental work performed at the laboratories of the Institute for Research in […]
Season’s Greetings from the IRB
Ilaria Ceppi, Giordano Reginato and Tommaso Virgilio IRB Student awardees 2019-2020
On December 15, 2020, during the second IRB Town Hall meeting, Ilaria Ceppi and Giordano Reginato (Recombination Mechanisms Lab) and Tommaso Virgilio (Infection and Immunity Lab) were announced as the grantees of the eighth IRB student award. For their studies, Ilaria and Giordano are enrolled at the ETHZ, while Tommaso is enrolled at the University […]
Modulation of gene expression in response to vitamin D and IFN-β: new paper by the Monticelli lab
A recent publication in Frontiers in Immunology by PhD student Niccolò Bianchi and colleagues analyzed the changes in gene expression of lymphocytes treated with immunomodulatory factors. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroinflammatory disease characterized by the presence of autoreactive leukocytes infiltrating the central nervous system, potentially leading to inflammation and tissue damage. Autoreactive T cells […]
NLRC5 promotes killing by unconventional Vg9Vd2 cells: a new paper by the Guarda Lab
For long known to regulate non-immune functions, butyrophilins (BTNs) are emerging as important modulators of immunity. The human BTN3A family – BTN3A1 in particular – is essential for the activation of unconventional Vg9Vd2 T cells by phosphoantigens. These phosphorylated metabolites can derive from a dysfunctional mevalonate pathway or microorganisms, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In spite […]
Human T cell response to bacteria of the Enterobacteriacae family: new paper by the Sallusto lab
A recent publication in European Journal of Immunology by the Sallusto group analyzed the human T cell response to bacteria of the Enterobacteriacae family. Enterobacteriaceae are a vast family of Gram-negative bacteria that includes harmless symbionts and potentially harmful pathogens. The latter represents a global health threat being the cause of severe deadly infections, mostly […]
Maura Garofalo awarded PhD
Maura Garofalo successfully defended her PhD thesis, which was presented at the University of Lausanne on October 28th, 2020. Her thesis title was “Identification of structural determinants of light chain amyloidosis” and the study was conducted in the Computational Structural Biology lab headed by Dr. Andrea Cavalli at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, in […]
12th EADV-IRB
The successful dermatological meeting, promoted by the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) and always held at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona, has now reached its 12th edition and this year it will take place as a web-meeting. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us to find new education and networking […]
Collaborating with a Nobel Prize
With the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2020 to virologist Charles M. Rice, of Rockefeller University, USI adds another case of a direct relationship with an award winner conferred by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Davide Robbiani, Director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI), collaborates with Prof. […]
