Left half of the logo of the LEO foundation

The IL-18 conundrum

Prof. Christoph Schlapbach and his team received one of this year's LEO Foundation "Research Grants in open competition". The supported project aims to elucidate the role of interleukin (IL-)18 in atopic dermatitis and will leverage genotype-phenotype-function studies in a translational approach to dissect the mechanisms by which IL-18 influences TH2 cell-mediated inflammation in atopic dermatitis.

LEO Grantees
Right half of the logo of the LEO foundation

Repair glia

Prof. Lukas Sommer and his team received one of this year's LEO Foundation "Research Grants in open competition". After showing that peripheral glia can dedifferentiate following skin injury to become repair glia, the supported project will explore the role and control of repair glia in wound healing with genetically engineered mouse models and an organotypic 3D culture system of human wounds.

LEO Grantees
Picture of a skin defect. Image credit: iStock/Aleksandr Malikov

Mechanism of melanoma treatment resistance

The effect of targeted treatment of malignant melanoma is often lost over time due to treatment resistance. The combined efforts of SKINTEGRITY.CH principal investigators Lukas Sommer, Mitch Levesque and Reinhard Dummer and their teams have identified a fundamental mechanism that causes resistance, and thus paved the way to circumvent it.

Read the UZH press release
Picture in the seminar room with all participants of the SKINTEGRITY.CH Annual Retreat

A thrilling meeting

Inspiration and exchange are key ingredients for successful collaborative research. The SKINTEGRITY.CH consortium discussed their results at their 6th Annual Retreat, enjoying both of those in Emmetten (Nidwalden).

Annual Retreat
Announcement of a guest lecture by Prof. Frauke Gräter.

Guest lecture by Prof. Frauke Gräter

Prof. Dr. Frauke Gräter from the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) is on sabbatical at the EPFL in Lausanne and visits the ETH Zurich for a day. SKINTEGRITY.CH has taken this opportunity to invite her for a guest lecture about mechanoradicals in collagenous tissue.

Read the abstract
The team of Prof. Christoph Schlapbach at the ADF Annual Meeting 2024.

Success at the ADF Annual Meeting 2024

At the 50th ADF Annual Meeting, Prof. Christoph Schlapbach received the prestigious Paul Langerhans Award, Fabian Luther gave a stellar talk on regulation of TH2 and TH17 cell function in human skin, and Stefanie Schärli received the poster prize for her presentation on the role of IL-9 sensitization of TH2 cells in atopic dermatitis. Congratulations to this great team!

ADF Meeting page
Paul Klee Research Awards 2024

Paul Klee Research Awards 2024

Former SKINTEGRITY.CH Young Investigator Dr. Catharina Sänger (right) and her colleague Dr. Salome Brütsch from the same research team of Prof. Sabine Werner (ETH Zurich) received Paul Klee Research Awards in February 2024.

Web announcement
Novartis Global Scholarship Program

Novartis scholarship for SKINTEGRITY.CH team

The team of Prof. Oliver Distler at the Dept. of Rheumatology at the University Hospital Zurich is one of five of the recipients of the Novartis Global Scholars Program. Congratulations to the team!

See the Novartis website
Young Investigator Award 2023

Young Investigator Award 2023

Dr. Vadim Krivitsky, postdoc in the team of Prof. Jean-Christophe Leroux (ETH Zurich) receives the SKINTEGRITY.CH Young Investigator Award 2023, awarded in January 2024. Congratulations Vadim!

Read the winning paper
Profile image of Francois Kuonen

Consortium welcomes a new Principal Investigator

SKINTEGRITY.CH celebrates the membership of a new PI:
PD Dr. med. François Kuonen from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) / Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV).

François Kuonen's research profile
Children playing the exosome game at the Scientifica 2023

Scientifica 2023

SKINTEGRITY.CH took part in the Scientifica 2023, Switzerland's largest science festival. Visitors of all ages were delighted to learn about the skin, either with the custom-made "Exosome Game" or by looking at histological patient samples of human skin under a bright-field microscope.

See impressions of the 2023 science festival
In memoriam Ulrich auf dem Keller

IN MEMORIAM Ulrich auf dem Keller (1974–2023)

In loving memory of our cherished colleague, Prof. Dr. Ulrich auf dem Keller, we are deeply saddened to share his sudden passing with you here.

Read the In Memoriam in "Wound Repair and Regeneration"
Group picture of the Skintegrity consortium at the annual retreat

Annual Retreat

The members of the SKINTEGRITY.CH consortium convened for two days of intensive scientific exchange and a little bit of sunshine by the Lake Thun at the fifth Annual Retreat. The magazine Dermatologica Helvetica published a small article about it.

Read the DH article
SSDV Awards 2023

SSDV Awards 2023

Two SKINTEGRITY.CH Young Investigators from the lab of Prof. Christoph Schlapbach were awarded with prizes at the 2023 SSDV (Swiss Society of Dermatology and Venereology) Annual Convention in Lausanne. Stefanie Schärli (left) received the Sanofi-Dermatology-Award and Fabian Luther (right) received the SSDV Poster Prize for best experimental research. SKINTEGRITY.CH PI Barbara Meier-Schiesser was also awarded and received the Louis Widmer Grant. Congratulations to all three of them!

SSDV Awards & Grants
Three new principal investigators for the consortium

Consortium welcomes three new Principal Investigators

SKINTEGRITY.CH celebrates the membership of three new PIs:
PD Dr. med. Antonios Kolios (left), PD Dr. med. Julia-Tatjana Maul (middle) and PD Dr. med. et sc. nat. Laurence Feldmeyer (right).

See all PIs
Young Investigator Award 2022

Young Investigator Award 2022

Congratulations to Michał Sobecki, Jing Chen and Ewelina Krzywińska from the Stockmann lab for winning the YI Award 2022. On behalf of the three of them, Jing accepts the prizes here.

Read the winning paper
3D in-vitro system

Fewer animal experiments with artificial models

How can methods and tools be developed to ensure that the number of animal experiments and the number of animals used in research are significantly reduced? A research team from the University of Fribourg is working together with ETH Zurich to investigate this question:

Read the press release
Oral presentation prize for SKINTEGRITY.CH Young Investigator Lorenza Garau Paganella

Oral presentation prize at SSBRM Annual Meeting

Congratulations to SKINTEGRITY.CH Young Investigator Lorenza Garau Paganella for her first prize for oral presentations at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine (SSBRM)!

SSBRM website