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

On the end of life

Living to be able to die

The way we deal with death as individuals and as a society has a lot to do with life. What is important in life is often also important in death. And those who are aware of their own finiteness may actually live even more intensely.

Iron Age burial site

Buried with the pet?

In an Italian necropolis of the late Iron Age, humans and animals were buried together. Researchers at the University of Bern provide new insights into the burial practices and beliefs of a Celtic-Gallic culture.

A question for Juri Auderset

What is the difference between medicines and drugs?

Remedy or party drug? Historian Juri Auderset talks about the thin historical and cultural line between medical and recreational drugs.

History of Medicine

Arable land for LSD – ergot production in the hinterland

LSD is not only about hippies and self-experience trips, but also about farmers who produced ergot for the Basel chemical industry in their fields in the Emme Valley also commonly known as Emmental. The cultivation of the raw material for LSD also fundamentally changed the farming world.

Biosafety

University of Bern supports the WHO

The Biosafety Center of the Institute for Infectious Diseases has been designated by the WHO as a Collaborating Center. It is one of only five such WHO Biosafety Collaborating Centers worldwide.

Vapes help quit smoking

The world's largest study on the subject, led by the University of Bern, shows that vapes are an effective aid to quitting smoking tobacco cigarettes. However, they do not reduce nicotine dependency.

People

Promoting innovation

New technology for predicting metastases

Cancer metastases are deadly - and difficult to predict. With the help of special models, Soheila Zeinali is able to analyse the behaviour of tumour cells and thus create a basis for better treatment decisions.

Neuroscience

Understanding how the brain learns

Katharina Wilmes is fascinated by the question how humans learn in an uncertain world. To find out, she is developing special neuroscientific models at the Institute of Physiology at the University of Bern.

Prevention

Gaming for health

Mike Falkner develops video games for older adults with the aim to train memory and fine motor skills – and thus help prevent diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's disease.

Medical Education

Innovations for medical education created in Bern

The Institute for Medical Education (IML) at the University of Bern is over 50 years old, funded in 1971. As a national center of expertise, it carries out research on medical education and contributes to strengthen the quality of medical education internationally. An interview with its director, Sissel Guttormsen.

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.
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