Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology

The goal of our research is to improve diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of children with infectious diseases. Special attention is paid to infections in the immunocompromised child, i.e., children with primary immunodeficiencies or secondary immunodeficiencies including cancer patients, transplant recipients and HIV-infected individuals.

One of our major efforts is to develop diagnostic molecular tools to directly detect pathogens and to monitor infections. We apply these tools in clinical interventional studies devoted to improved patient management including diagnostics, monitoring and treatment. Furthermore, we use molecular tools and classical virological techniques to study acute and chronic infection with Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of infectious mononucleosis which is also associated with several tumors and is the main topic of our experimental research.

Our experimental research activities focus on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphomagenesis both in the immunocompetent and the immunocompromised host (transplant recipients, iatrogenic immunosuppressed patients, and HIV-infected individuals). Specifically, we are interested in the elucidation of the viral and host mechanisms involved during EBV infection of B-cells and their subsets and epithelial cells as well as EBV-induced transformation and immortalization of B-cells. Further, we investigate the influence of innate immunity stimulation on acute and chronic EBV B-cell infection and on the transformation and immortalization processes in vitro and in vivo. In particular, we are dissecting the cellular signal transduction pathways following triggering of innate immunity which influence latent and lytic EBV infection. Also, we are studying the events responsible for maintenance of latent EBV infection in EBV-harboring tumor cells. Our aim is to eventually engineer tumor cell-tailored cancer treatment by using induction of lytic EBV infection resulting in cancer cell death. We do model lymphomagenesis in vivo in NOD/SCID mice xenotransplanted with EBV-infected cells and in mice infected with murine gamma herpesvirus 68 (MHV-68), respectively.

Funding

Swiss National Foundation, Forschungskredit University of Zurich, Swiss Bridge Foundation, Cancer League Kanton Zürich, OPO Foundation, Hartmann-Müller Foundation, Anna Müller Grocholski Foundation, EMDO Foundation, Novartis Foundation, Lydia Hochstrasser/Julius Müller Foundation, Sassella Foundation, Wolfermann-Naegeli Foundation