The Institute of Infectious Diseases at the University of Bern is responsible for teaching and research as well as diagnostic microbiology in the fields of virology, bacteriology, mycology, parasitology and serological infection testing. It is thus the only university institute in Switzerland to unite all specialized microbiological disciplines in the field of clinical microbiology under one roof.
Research Focus:
Obesity and diabetes, both rapidly increasing in prevalence worldwide, have a tremendous medical and socio-economic impact. Both are multifactorial in their etiology, influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Obesity and Diabetes also share the characteristic of a chronic low-grade inflammatory state, that indicates that altered metabolism may alter the immune system. The gut microbiota, and microbial metabolites in particular, have been described to play an important role in disease development. However, the underlying mechanisms are still ill-defined.
In our lab we will apply innovative gnotobiotic, metagenomic and metabolomic approaches to advance our mechanistic understanding of the complex pathophysiologic interplay between gut microbiota, metabolism and inflammation driving obesity and diabetes, with the ultimate goal to inspire novel and innovative strategies for prevention and therapy of these important diseases.