Institute of Animal Pathology

The Institute of Animal Pathology (ITPA) is a comprehensive animal pathology center, combining a dedicated diagnostic unit and basic research in one institute. Our necropsy and biopsy services provide an essential quality control for the clinic and make a critical contribution to state-of-the-art teaching and translational research. With our basic research we aim to support clinicians understanding the molecular basis clinically relevant questions, such as cancer therapy resistance. We have also established a comparative pathology platform (COMPATH) to support translation research involving animal models of human diseases. As part of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP), the ITPA is integrated in a close network with the other para-clinical institutes. Moreover, the ITPA houses a dedicated histology laboratory that supports the Vetsuisse Faculty Bern.

Organisation

News

Annual Report 2022 Swiss Cancer Research

The annual report 2022 of the Swiss Cancer Research Foundation is published with a presentation of a project of the research group of Sven Rottenberg.

Board exam of the European College of Veterinary Pathologists

Kemal Mehanigic, PhD student in the group of Dr. Nicolas Ruggli (IVI) and former resident at the Institute of Animal Pathology, successfully passed the board exam of the European College of Veterinary Pathologists. Congratulations!

Teacher of the Year

Dr. Llorenç Grau Roma has been elected as ‘Teacher of the Year’ by the veterinary students of the University of Bern. The award was announced on the 16th of December 2022 during the celebration of the Christmas Commemoration event. Congratulations.

Struktur der C. perfringens Beta-Toxin Pore

Structure of the C. perfringens beta-toxin pore

In collaboration between the groups of Prof. H. Posthaus (Institute of Animal Pathology), Prof. B. Zuber (Institute of Anatomy) and Prof. M. Degiacomi (Durham University) we discovered the structure of the C. perfringens beta-toxin pore. For the first time we can now gain detailed insight into the interaction between this "killer toxin" and the plasma membrane of target cells.

Ophiodiomyces ophiodiicola, Etiologic Agent of Snake Fungal Disease, in Europe since Late 1950s

In the past few decades, fungi have surfaced as threats to conservation and biodiversity among both ectotherms (“cold-blooded”) and endotherms (“warm-blooded”) animals. The fungus Ophiodiomyces ophiodiicola is the cause of snake fungal disease. Recent findings date its occurrence in the United States at least as far back as 1945. This fungus has been detected more recently in Europe. In this article, we have summarized the findings of an investigation carried out in collaboration between the University of Bern and the info fauna - karch aiming to detect the earliest record of Ophiodiomyces ophiodiicola in Switzerland. We have screened more than 1000 free-ranging snakes from museum collections from Switzerland. Of these, 22 had macroscopic lesions consistent with snake fungal disease and 5 tested positive, the oldest collected in 1959. These findings provide critical elements for helping to rethink the disease ecology and global distribution of O. ophiodiicola and reconstruct its natural history.

SNF Grant success

Prof. Horst Posthaus received an SNF grant for his project "Receptor specificities of Clostridium perfringens hemolysin beta-pore-forming toxins."
Congratulations

Dr. Hana Hanzlikova has started her group at ITPA

We are very happy to welcome Hana Hanzlikova as new group leader at ITPA and we are looking forward to the collaboration with her and her group.

Oral Presentation Award ESVP/ECVP Congress 2022

Stefano Bagatella, Resident at ITPA und PhD student in the Division of Neurological Sciences received the Oral Presentation Award at the recent ESVP/ECVP Congress in Athens for his talk "Microglia, rather than bacterial factors, mediate bovine neutrophil chemotaxis in neurolisteriosis". Congratulations!

Successful PhD defense

Carmen Widmer successfully defended her PhD thesis "Investigating platinum drug resistance using BRCA1;p53-deficient mouse mammary tumors". Congratulations!

Sven Rottenberg and Intidhar Labidi-Galy

Major US award for Bern and Geneva researchers

A prestigious grant from the USA goes to the biomedical scientist Sven Rottenberg, University of Bern, and the clinical scientist Intidhar Labidi-Galy, University of Geneva and University Hospital of Geneva. They received a joint grant from the "Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs" for their project on ovarian cancer. This underlines the high quality of the collaborative research on ovarian cancer in Bern and Geneva.

The cGAS–STING pathway drives type I IFN immunopathology in COVID-19

Discovery of a host cell-directed therapeutic approach to target COVID-19 Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to increase of type 1 interferons, which play an important role in pulmonary and extrapulmonary disease. We contributed to the work of the Ablasser (EPFL) and Gillet (CHUV) labs, identifying the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway to drive IFN 1 responses in patients. Its inhibition substantially reduces lung inflammation in mice (Nature 2022, Jan 19. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04421-w)

GCB Award

Julia Bruggisser, PhD graduate from the research group of Horst Posthaus, received one of 3 GCB Awards for the best PhD thesis in 2021. Julia earned this prize for her excellent work and PhD defense on the topic "Clostridium perfringens beta-toxin: Receptor identification and oligomer structure". Congratulations!

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