Enthusiasm at SKINTEGRITY.CH symposium
97 participants from all over Switzerland gathered in Zurich for one afternoon to hear presentations by leading experts in the field of inflammatory skin disease. The invited speakers from the UK, Germany and Sweden and Young Investigators from SKINTEGRITY.CH shared their latest findings and received excellent audience questions and very positive feedback. In short: a resounding success!
Symposium page
The LOOP Zurich Incubator project
Prof. Dr. Markus Rudin, founding director of The LOOP Zurich, presented PREVENT-SSc as one of the two proposals that was selected as Incubator Project of The LOOP Zurich. PREVENT-SSc is in interdisciplinary project that aims to systemic sclerosis disease progression before it causes damage by identifying risk factors and discovering new targets for early therapeutic intervention.
Project description on The LOOP website
Consortium welcomes a new Principal Investigator
The interdisciplinary team of SKINTEGRITY.CH is expanded by a new team member: Prof. Dr. Mirjam Schenk. She is active at the Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology at the University of Bern, as well as in the Christine Kühne – Center for Allergy Research and Education (CK‑CARE) in Davos. A warm welcome to Prof. Dr. Schenk and her team!
Mirjam Schenk's research profile
YIP Alumni share their experiences
The Young Investigator Program hosted an evening in which current Young Investigators could hear from and discuss with alumni of the program. Two alumni shared their experiences going from a PhD position into postdoctoral research and how their path continued after that, while three alumni were more fresh out of their PhD. It was a very lively discussion for all attendants!
See all YIP events
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
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
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
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).
Read a brief review of the retreat
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
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
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 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
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
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).
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 (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"
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
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
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).
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
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 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