Under the guidance of Prof. Peter M. Villiger our colleagues from the Department of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergology have published an interesting, phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study about the use of Tocilizumab for the treatment of giant cell arteritis in The Lancet. We congratulate the authors to this remarkable achievment!!!

In a collaboration with the Group of Prof. Trajkovski from the University of Geneva Prof. Sigfried Hapfelmeier from the Institute for Infectious Disease at the University of Bern has lately published two outstanding papers in Nature Medicine and Cell. We congratulate the authors to this remarkable achievment.

On December 16, 2015 we are organizing the 1st Type-2 Immunity Meeting Bern. Registration is mandatory and abstract submission is open now. Check out the preliminary program and have a look at the plenary speakers on the T2IMB website. We hope to see you there! 

Our Lab Manager Dr. Daniel Brigger has published a first-author paper in "Cell Death & Disease". The study, in which the role of ATRA (all-trans retinoic acid) -induced autophagy in mammary tumors has been investigated, was conducted in the lab of Prof. Mario Tschan at the Institute of Pathology, University of Bern. We congratulate the authors for this interesting piece of work. 

Nature Medicine has published a News and Views article written by A. J. Filiano & J. Kipnis about the recent study of Dr. Saul A. Villeda (UCSF) and Prof. Tony Wyss-Coray (Stanford University) to which we also contributed.

In their article entiteled "Breaking bad blood: β2-microglobulin as a pro-aging factor in blood" they state that, "...the burden imposed by age-related diseases is astronomical. Slowing—or even reversing—deleterious age-related processes might delay or prevent the onset of age-related diseases. Identification of molecules, such as B2M, that accelerate the development of these deficits is a promising first step. The fountain of youth may well be flowing in our blood."

We congratulate our colleagues and co-first authors Dr. Carsten Riether and Dr. Christian Schürch from the Ochsenbein Lab (Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern) on their outstanding publication in the highly ranked journal Science Translational Medicine. In thier study they present evidence that a combined therapy using Imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, together with a CD70 blocking antibody is more efficient for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) than the conventional approach with Imatinib alone. Find out more about their study here and here.

The University of Bern has released an interview with Dr. Eggel on the recently published Nature Medicine study in their online blog. He has contributed to this publication during his time as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Wyss-Cory at Stanford University.

Dr. Saul A. Villeda and his team at UCSF have published an excellent story on the role of beta-2-microglobuline in cognitive function and neurogenesis in Nature Medicine this week. The groundwork for this study has been laid in the laboratory of Prof. Wyss-Coray at Stanford University. We are happy that we could contribute to this publication and congratulate all co-authors for this achievement. Read the publication here and have a look at Dr. Villeda's and Prof. Wyss-Coray's websites.   

The Veronika & Hugo Bohny Foundation honours young scientist who have conducted an outstanding bachelor thesis in an applied field of biomedical research. We are proud to announce that Pascal Gasser has been awarded 1st place of the 2015 call. As a part of our team Pascal has generated novel binding molecules against murine IgE for further in vivo use to test inhibition of allergic reactions. Here is a movie where he explains his work. Congratulations Pascal, this is well-deserved!