Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases (MCID)

MCID-funded projects second funding call

As a result of project funding calls launched in June 2021 and March 2022, the MCID now funds 23 research projects, running from 2022-2024 and supports 11 early career researchers.

Deciphering the interplay between viral proteins and host cell mRNA metabolism

Applicant: Dr. Evangelos Karousis (Cluster: Microbiology)

Recipient of MCID Career Development Grant

Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP)

Klebsi-mAb

Applicant: Dr. Tim Rollenske (Cluster: Immunity)

Recipient of MCID Career Development Grant

University of Bern Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR) and University Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine

Boosting influenza-specific adaptive responses using an adjuvant composed of bacterial lysates

Applicant: Dr. Emilie Seydoux (Cluster: Immunity)

Recipient of MCID Early Career Research Grant for Women (ECRG-W)

Division of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Inselspital Bern

Lung Precision Medicine, Department for Biomedical Research (DBMR)

Ethical Considerations of the Relationship and Interactions between Science, Policy and the Media during the COVID-19 pandemic (ESPRIM)

Applicant: Dr. Bettina Zimmermann (Cluster: Society and Law)

Recipient of MCID Early Career Research Grant for Women (ECRG-W)

Institute of Philosophy

Covid-19: Science, Narratives and Policy

Applicant: Dr. Caroline Schlaufer (Cluster: Society and Law)

Recipient of MCID Early Career Research Grant for Women (ECRG-W)

KPM Center for Public Management (KPM)

Overcoming barriers to breastfeeding in Switzerland during infectious disease pandemics

Applicant: Dr. Jessica Laine Carmeli (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Recipient of MCID Early Career Research Grant for Women (ECRG-W)

Institute of Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

Blame deflection during the Covid-19 crisis

Applicant: Dr. Susanne Hadorn (Cluster: Society and Law)

Recipient of MCID Early Career Research Grant for Women (ECRG-W)

KPM Center for Public Management (KPM)

WildGuARDS- Accessing the “Garden Wildlife black box” to improve One Health and infectious disease epidemiology

Applicant: Dr. med. vet. Saskia Keller (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Recipient of MCID Early Career Research Grant for Women (ECRG-W)

Institute for Fish and Wildlife Health (FIWI)

Confronting the rising epidemic of the zoonotic tick-borne encephalitis virus

Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Stephen Leib (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK)

Co-Lead Applicant: Dr. Marco Alves (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute of Virology and Immunology, Vetsuisse Faculty (IVI)

Co-infection of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and malaria: from population level to immunological and cellular interaction

Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. Volker Heussler (Cluster: Neglected Diseases)

Institute of Cell Biology (IZB)

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Gilles Wandeler (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Department of Infectious Diseases, Inselspital Bern

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. Olivier Guenat (Cluster: Immunity)

ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research

Interplay of infections and the microbiota on outcomes for host health

Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Andrew Macpherson (Cluster: Immunity)

University of Bern Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR) and University Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. Volker Heussler (Cluster: Neglected Diseases)

Institute of Cell Biology (IZB), University of Bern

Use of tailor-made bacteriophages for the treatment of infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria

Lead Applicant: Dr. Fabien Labroussaa (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology (IVB), Vetsuisse Faculty

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Stephen Leib (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK)

menoBalance App: Use of AI methods to design a personalised chronic and infectious disease management medical device

Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Petra Stute (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. David Ginsbourger (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

Mathematical Physics and Actuarial Science

Co-Applicant: Dr. Ben Spycher (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

Co-Applicant: Dr. Rowan Iskandar (Cluster: Economics)

SITEM Center for Translational Medicine and Biomedical Entepreneurship

Role of sheep and rodent reservoirs for Wesselsbron, a neglected zoonotic flavivirus

Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. Charaf Benarafa (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute of Virology and Immunology, Vetsuisse Faculty (IVI)

Co-Lead Applicant: Dr. Obdulio Garcia-Nicolas (Cluster: Neglected Diseases)

Recipient of MCID Career Development Grant

Institute of Virology and Immunology, Vetsuisse Faculty (IVI)

Early detection for early action: integrating multiple data sources for monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in near real-time

Lead Applicant: PD Dr. Christian Althaus (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Guido Beldi (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

University Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine

Co-Applicant: Dr. med. Julien Riou (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Recipient of MCID Career Development Grant

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. Raphael Sznitman (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

ARTORG Centet for Biomedical Engineering

Co-Applicant: PD Dr. Alban Ramette (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK)

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. Kevin Heng (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Center for Space and Habitability (CSH)

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. Alexander Leichtle (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

University Institute of Clinical Chemistry

Preparedness for surveillance in school rooms in pandemic and epidemic situations: multiple measure approach to estimate transmission and interventions for Covid-19 and seasonal influenza

Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Lukas Fenner (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Philipp Jent (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

Department of Infectious Diseases, Inselspital Bern

Co-Applicant: Dr. Pascal Bittel (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK)

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. Tina Hascher (Cluster: Society and Law)

Institute of Educational Science (IES)

Divided pandemic society and Public Health. Polarization in the Covid-19 pandemic response in Switzerland

Lead applicant: Prof. Dr. Annika Frahsa (Cluster: Society and Law)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. Markus Freitag (Cluster: Society and Law)

Institiute of Political Science

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Nicola Low (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

An integrative One Health network to monitor and characterize influenza A viruses circulating in the human and pig population

Lead applicant: PD Dr. Ronald Dijkman (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK)

Co-Lead Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Andri Rauch (Cluster: Microbiology)

Department of Infectious Diseases, Inselspital Bern

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. vet. Heiko Nathues (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Clinic for Swine, Vetsuisse Faculty

Co-Applicant: Dr. Jenna Kelly (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute of Virology and Immunology, Vetsuisse Faculty (IVI)

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Philipp Latzin (Cluster: Neglected Diseases)

University Children's Hospital, Division of Pediiatric Pulmonology and Allergology

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Manuela Funke-Chambour (Cluster: Patient-Focused Research)

Lung Cluster (DBMR) and Department of Pulmonology, Inselspital Bern

Co-Applicant: Prof. Dr. med. Gilles Wandeler (Cluster: Epidemiology)

Department of Infectious Disease, Inselspital Bern

Co-Applicant: Dr. med. Cédric Hirzel (Cluster: Immunity)

Department of Infectious Disease, Inselspital Bern

Co-Applicant: PD Dr. Franziska Suter-Riniker (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute of Infectious Diseases (IFIK)

Liposomal nanotraps: non-antibiotic compounds for the treatment of enteropathogenic infections in humans and farm animals without contributing to antimicrobial resistance.

Applicant: Dr. Eduard Babiychuk (Cluster: Microbiology)

Institute of Anatomy

Preparing the mainstream media for the next pandemic – understanding under which conditions conspiracy-related mainstream media content fosters conspiracy beliefs

Applicant: Prof. Dr. Silke Adam (Cluster: Society and Law)

Institute of Communication and Media Studies

A decision-making framework under severe uncertainty for optimizing future pandemic responses

Applicant: Dr. Rowan Iskandar (Cluster: Economics)

SITEM Center for Translational Medicine and Biomedical Entepreneurship

The evolution of senescence and insecticide resistance in vector populations

Applicant: Prof. Dr. Deborah Stroka (Cluster: Neglected Diseases)

University of Bern Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR) and University Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine

Comparing the crisis resilience of national policy advisory systems during Covid-19

Applicant: Prof. Dr. Fritz Sager (Cluster: Society and Law)

KPM Center for Public Management (KPM)