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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. […]

The role of beta-arrestins in CXCL12/HMGB1-mediated signaling

The ability of chemokines to form heterocomplexes with other chemokines or HMGB1 represents an additional level of regulation for shaping their function by enhancing their potency on their cognate receptor. In recent years, the relevance of the CXCL12/HMGB1 heterocomplex activity, on the chemokine receptor CXCR4, has been widely demonstrated in models of inflammation and tissue […]

New research from Ticino on the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2

After the announcement, in May, of the first results of serological tests carried out on healthcare personnel in Ticino, significant data on the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 is now available, thanks to the analysis carried out – among others – by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI) and Humabs BioMed (subsidiary […]