The online magazine of the University of Bern

Uni Bern Magazin: Thema Health and Medicine

Virus hunting, digital diagnostics, animal welfare

Health and Medicine

Novel viruses, bacterial resistances and the shortage of medical specialists pose major challenges for our society. To tackle these, researchers at the University of Bern develop award-winning tools and methods and are engaged in the innovative promotion of young scientists.

Current

Biology

Fit thanks to friends: Collaborating and benefiting

Real friends go through fire and flood for each other. How does this mutual care come about? A journey through the animal kingdom with behavioral ecologist Michael Taborsky shows that cooperation has its origins in biology.

Biomedical technology

Novel medical device provides early recognition of brain diseases

Dominic Senn appreciates the challenge of starting and creating something new. Together with Mathias Abegg and three colleagues, he founded machineMD, a spin-off from the University of Bern, with the goal of radically improving the early detection of brain diseases through a combination of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, and making reliable diagnostic data accessible anywhere in the world.

Pathology

Bernese Innovation for the Pathology of the Future

Alessandro Lugli and Miryam Blassnigg from the Institute of Pathology at the University of Bern have developed a medical cockpit, called the Pathojet, which is the first of its kind in the world. In an interview, they explain the advantages the device offers for their field and their patients.

Biomedical technology

Artificial Intelligence advances medicine

Stavroula Mougiakakou, head of the research group for Artificial Intelligence in Health and Nutrition at the ARTORG Center in Bern, conducts applied fundamental research and with her team aims to close the gap between theory and practice.

Virus research

The University of Bern on the front lines of HIV research

The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) has been making important contributions to research on the prevention and treatment of HIV infection since 2007. The University of Bern and the University of Cape Town are assigned to the severely affected southern Africa as part of the international research consortium, "International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS" (IeDEA). The research was recently awarded a highly competitive grant and approved for another five years.

Combating distemper and measles viruses

Bernese Researchers have been able for the first time to depict the canine distemper virus (CDV), which is closely related to the measles virus, at molecular level. This paves the way for the development of novel therapies against CDV and measles.

People

Cardiology

Can a heart really break?

The end of a relationship, an unrequited love or the death of a loved one – they can all break your heart. At least proverbially. But does this emotional pain also manifest itself physically?

Nutrition science

What diet makes us powerful?

Physical and cognitive performance is highly dependent on diet. The basis is energy intake to meet needs plus sufficient essential nutrients such as specific amino acids and fatty acids as well as vitamins. In nutritional medicine, we measure individual needs by taking into account age, gender, body composition and state of health. We also take training and competition aspects into account.

Sleep research

Exploring the mysteries of sleep

Mattia Aime from the Department for BioMedical Research has discovered how sleep helps to process emotions. For this he receives a Pfizer Research Prize, one of the most prestigious medical prizes in Switzerland.
Top