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When you tattoo your skin, you also "tattoo" your immune system. This is the finding of an innovative study conducted by the Infection and Immunity group at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), affiliated with Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), led by Prof. Santiago F. González and published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Scientists from the University of Galway in Ireland and the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to USI and member of Bios+) in Bellinzona have uncovered a new natural compound from Irish marine life that shows promise against a difficult-to-treat form of blood cancer. The team studied over 400 extracts from marine samples collected along the Irish coast.

Researcher from the Computational Structural Biology group at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI), have shown that artificial intelligence (AI) can design  a potent novel miniprotein for lipocalin-2 (LCN2), a protein linked to neuroinflammation. Their study, published in Frontiers in Immunology and titled " AI-assisted design of ligands for lipocalin-2 " by Jacopo Sgrignani , Sara Buscarini , Patrizia Locatelli , Concetta Guerra , Alberto Furlan , Yingyi Chen , Giada Zoppi and Andrea Cavalli , paves the way  for new diagnostics and therapies.

Scientists from the Institute of Oncology Research and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, both affiliated with USI, report in Cell Reports the discovery of the first drugs that inhibit FOXA1

An international study conducted by the Experimental Hematology research group at the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR), in collaboration with the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland (IOSI), led by Prof. Davide Rossi - Group Leader at IOR and Deputy Head of Hematology at IOSI - and recently published in Blood , has redefined the genetic understanding of classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) through the use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).

The Cancer Immunotherapy research group, led by Prof. Arianna Calcinotto at the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to USI and member of Bios+), has recently published a paper on the identification of a novel immune-tumor interaction that impairs DNA repair and creates a new opportunity for targeted therapy in ER+ breast cancers.

A new study by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), affiliated with Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), reveals how our cells recognise and selectively dispose of their damaged organelles. Published in the prestigious journal Nature Cell Biology , the study titled "The intrinsically disordered regions of organellophagy receptors are interchangeable and control organelle fragmentation, ER-phagy and mitophagy flux"   provides new insights into a fundamental mechanism essential for cellular health known as autophagy.

A new study from the IOR Bioinformatics Unit, published in  Nature Communications , has identified the Ectodysplasin-A2 Receptor (EDA2R) as a tissue-independent biomarker of aging and a key mediator of chronic inflammatory responses linked to age-related diseases. Led by Marco Bolis, PhD, the research provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms that drive aging and suggests new potential therapeutic strategies.

A recent study suggests that drinking coffee, particularly in the morning, may lower the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to not consuming coffee or drinking it at various times throughout the day. Professor Giovanni Pedrazzini, a Full Professor at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and Head of the Cardiology Service at the Cardiocentro Institute, discussed these findings in an article published in LaRegione.

Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) contributes to research on sleep and related issues through the work and publications of Prof. Emiliano Albanese, Full Professor at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at USI, and Prof. Mauro Manconi, Full Professor of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at USI.

Disfigured faces, impressively deformed. Wrinkles, swellings, parts of the lips that are no longer there, mouths and noses that have almost disappeared. These are the slow but inexorable effects of cocaine. Professor Matteo Trimarchi, Professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences of Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and Head of Otorhinolaryngology Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC ), spoke about these severe effects, even among the youngest, in an interview with La Domenica.

The groundbreaking discovery at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona, affiliated with USI, has revealed, through the study of DNA repair mechanisms, a function of a protein with the ability to fight specific cancerous formations. In Professor Petr Cejka 's laboratory, a team of ten researchers has been studying the mechanisms of DNA repair, a crucial process for preventing diseases such as cancer.

Antonio Landi, PhD assistant at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and winner of USI Equal Opportunities Award 2024 for scientific contributions on topics of equality and diversity , presented his research to us, providing a comprehensive examination of gender medicine. Antonio Landi, could you please explain the research you conducted and the results it led to? "The study, published in JAMA Cardiology, aimed to analyse the impact of gender on optimal drug therapy in patients with coronary atherosclerotic disease undergoing angioplasty with coronary stent placement.

The Molecular Oncology research group, led by Prof. Andrea Alimonti at the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to USI and member of Bios+) has recently discovered that a factor involved in blood coagulation, Factor X, directly promotes resistance to hormonal therapies in preclinical models and is associated with poor survival in  metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients.

Mutations in the BRCA1 gene increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in females and prostate cancer in males. Despite more than 15,000 papers studying BRCA1 mutations and numerous clinical reports, the exact role of the BRCA1 protein has been poorly understood. A recent paper, published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, provides novel insights into the BRCA1 function during the repair of broken DNA.

The Institute of oncology research (IOR), affiliated to USI, is pleased to announce the publication of a study describing a new compound designed at IOR, targeting the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp) with anti-cancer activity in various hematological cancers. The research, led by Dr Eugenio Gaudio (former IOR senior investigator) and Prof. Francesco Bertoni (IOR group leader and deputy director, USI adjunct professor), involved prominent institutions, including the Institute for research in biomedicine (IRB) and various European and North-American institutions.

A new study published by the Grassi laboratory and collaborators in "Cell Reports Medicine" demonstrates that releasing the inhibitory effect of adenosine-triphosphate (ATP) on secretory IgA (Immunoglobulin A) production in the gut protects from enteropathy and restores growth in malnourished newborns.

Scientists from USI in collaboration with italian scientists have made a significant discovery by identifying a novel anti-aging therapeutic. The study is published in the prestigious journal "Nature Aging". Aging is a primary risk factor for the development of numerous chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, chronic kidney disease and cancer.

Apoptotic cell death is a crucial mechanism that contributes to tissue homeostasis and prevents the onset of several diseases. However, this phenomenon is challenging to identify within microscopy movies that can encompass thousands of cells. Led by Santiago Gonzalez, the recent study carried at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona, affiliated with USI, introduces ADeS, an innovative approach based on artificial intelligence for the automatic detection of apoptotic cells in microscopy movies.

Bacterial lysates are widely used in the clinic to minimize the pathologic consequences of respiratory infections. Our new study shows how one such lysate, OM-85, works on human myeloid cells to trigger an immunomodulatory gene circuit. Bellinzona, March 21, 2024 - OM-85 is a bacterial lysate commonly used in clinical practice to reduce duration and frequency of recurrent respiratory tract infections.