Archives

A new computing tool developed by IRB researchers

Antibodies are vital proteins of the immune system that can virtually recognize all non-self-molecules and initiate an immune response to remove them. The study of antibody repertoires evolution is critical to understand how an organism can generate specific antibodies after antigen exposure. Phylogeny analysis of antibody repertoire allows the discovery of key mutations that transform […]

Deciphering and predicting CD4+ T cell immunodominance of influenza virus hemagglutinin

A recent publication in Journal of Experimental Medicine by the Sallusto group explored the nature of the human CD4+ T cell immunodominance to influenza H1 hemagglutinin and demonstrate that the naïve repertoire is very broad, while the memory repertoire becomes selected toward peptides with a high likelihood to be processed and presented by dendritic cells. […]

New paper from the Geiger lab

Nearly 200 billion naïve T cells continuously patrol the human body in a quiescent state, prepared to respond to potential threats. Consequently, they may remain inactive for several years in a spore-like state and thus consume little nutrients and energy. However, if they encounter an antigen from a pathogen or a malignant cell, naïve T […]

New paper from Molinari’s Lab: Deep Learning to monitor Lysosomal activity

Lysosomes clear from cells damaged organelles and macromolecules thus giving substantial contribution to tissues and organs homeostasis. Cumulating knowledge expands the number of rare lysosomal storage disorders directly and indirectly linked to lysosomal dysfunction. Lysosomes have for long time been considered static organelles ensuring degradation and recycling of cellular wastes. However, they are all but […]

The IRB at the forefront of the COVID serological tests in Ticino – first results

The Institute for Biomedicine Research (IRB, affiliated to the USI) and Humabs BioMed (a subsidiary of Vir Biotechnology) joint their forces and expertise to test in the blood of healthcare professionals, who are at the front line of the COVID-19 outbreak response, the presence of antibodies against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This study, launched on April […]

Ilaria Fregno awarded ETH Medal for her outstanding PhD Thesis

Ilaria Fregno, a member of the Protein Folding and Quality Control laboratory headed by Prof. Maurizio Molinari at the IRB in Bellinzona, has been honored with the ETH Medal in recognition of her Outstanding Doctoral Thesis entitled “Anabolic and catabolic control of endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis”. The prestigious ETH medal is awarded to less than 8% […]

New paper from Cejka’s Lab

CtIP has emerged as one of the main factors that drives the processing of broken DNA into the homologous recombination pathway. CtIP achieves that by stimulating the activity of two nucleases (MRE11 and DNA2), which resect DNA end creating single-strand DNA overhangs required for the downstream steps in the recombination pathway. Cell lacking CtIP consequently […]

Fellowship IBSA Foundation 2019, accolades to Tommaso Virgilio

The IBSA Foundation Fellowships awards five scholarships each year to young researchers from universities and research institutes around the world who have distinguished themselves for their skills and have ongoing projects of particular relevance in specific areas of research in the medical discipline. Tommaso Virgilio, PhD student in the group of Santiago González at the […]