Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases (MCID)

The MCID is a multidisciplinary strategic center at the University of Bern dedicated to the study and mitigation of healthcare, societal, ethical, and economic risks from infectious diseases. The MCID brings together high impact academic researchers with the aim of determining the origins of infectious disease risks, preparing for and managing these risks.

The launch of the MCID has been made possible through a generous donation by the Vinetum Foundation.

Download the MCID brochure in English, German or French for an overview of the MCID and its activities and sign up to receive the MCID newsletter to read quarterly news from the center.

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MCID-funded research

MCID Core Activities

MCID newsletter, The SPREAD

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News and events

MCID seminar series

The MCID has launched a lunchtime seminar series. Next invited seminar speaker: Prof. Massimo Palmarini, Director of Centre for Virus Research, University of Glasgow, UK (Wednesday, 29th November, 16.30-17.30). See here for the full seminar program.

MCID Member Evan Karousis receives funding to support future research activities

MCID Career Development Grant recipient, Evan Karousis, receives SNSF Spark funding, as well as a Claude et Giuliana Foundation Grant, to support his ongoing research, including in vitro translation screening linked to his MCID-funded project

Carmen Faso welcomes South Africa Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on behalf of the MCID

On 23rd October, the South Africa Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation visited the University of Bern as part of a tour organised by the Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa. MCID Co-Chair, Carmen Faso, had the privilege of presenting the MCID and its involvement in the Cluster of Research Excellence Genomics for Health in Africa.

Dr. Caroline Brall, Ethics Manager at the EPL speaks at HealthCom 2023

Caroline Brall was invited to give a talk on "Ethics in Healthcare" at The HealthCom Senior Executive Conference, an independent platform for decision-makers in the Swiss healthcare industry, made up of personally invited members from the boards of directors and management of hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical companies, medtech, insurers, service providers, politics and authorities, as well as opinion leaders. Caroline highlighted the importance of ethics in tackling challenges and in making the Swiss healthcare system more resilient.

MCID EPL: mandate from Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office

MCID EPL co-managers Caroline Brall and Caroline Schlaufer have received a mandate to conduct a project on “Creating political acceptance for disease control measures in household pets: a public policy and ethics perspective” to begin in September 2023

Possibly of engagement in MCID-funded research: Pandemic Stories

As part of MCID-funded project "Divided Pandemic Society and Public Health: Polarization in the Covid-19 Pandemic Response in Switzerland", the project team is looking for people in the Canton of Bern who would like to share their experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic in a friendly and open environment. See here to find out more and get involved.

MCID Annual Event 2023

Held 6th July 2023, UniS. Featuring presentations of, and interactive workshops on, the three MCID Core Activities.

MCID to Co-Lead ARUA-The Guild Cluster of Research Excellence

The MCID, together with Co-Leads at Stellenbosch University and the University of Tübingen will Co-Lead an ARUA-The Guild Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE), "Genomics for Health in Africa". This CoRE, with a key aim of capacity building, will focus on genomics and structural biology as tools in infectious diseases, rare diseases and cancer research, in and for Africa, striving for continent-wide improvement in public health.

SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school rooms: effects of measures

In this first paper describing MCID-funded research, Lukas Fenner and team detect SARS-CoV-2 in the school classroom and investigate the effect of control measures on viral transmission.

Simone Leoni wins poster prize at ECCMID 2023 meeting

PhD student, Simone Leoni, has won a Top Rated Poster Prize at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases 2023 for work linked to MCID-funded project "Confronting the rising epidemic of the zoonotic tick-borne encephalitis virus"

Ethics and Policy Lab awarded NRP 79 “Advancing 3R” Funding

Ethics & Policy Lab managers Dr. Caroline Brall and Dr. Caroline Schlaufer have secured SNSF NRP 79 “Advancing 3R - Animals, research and society ” funding for their project entitled “A public policy and ethical analysis of the debate on research with animals in Switzerland”.

MCID Member Evangelos Karousis receives Holcim Stiftung Wissen award

MCID Career Development Grantee Evangelos Karousis has been awarded a Holcim Stiftung Wissen fellowship, allowing him to establish himself as a junior group leader at the DCBP from January 2023

MCID Ethics and Policy Lab and Oeschger Center (OCCR) host a boot camp on politics organised by the Franxini Project

The boot camp, to be held on 7th and 8th June, will be open to members of the MCID and OCCR keen to learn more about policy engagement in Switzerland.

MCID sponsors the Middle Eastern Biology of Parasitism summer school 2023

MeBoP, the Middle Eastern Biology of Parasitism summer school 2023, will be held from July 23rd until August 5th at the University of Bern. Open to applicants from the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, this course provides high-level teaching and training on a wide-range of parasitology topics.

MCID launches its quarterly newsletter, The SPREAD

The MCID has launched the first issue of its quarterly newsletter, The SPREAD. Read here to be updated on the MCID's activities and news and to read about infectious disease research from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

Nicola Low and collaborators address unanswered questions on mpox transmission

Nicola Low, vice-chair of the WHO's Mpox Emergency Committee and MCID Epidemiology cluster chair, identifies unanswered questions on the role of sexual contact in mpox transmission in an article published in PLOS Medicine. Prof. Low and international collaborators provide a framework for cross-national research studies involving existing cohorts and multi-disciplinary teams to address these questions, ultimately aiming to inform policy makers and to aid prevention.

BEready Cohort information event

On 16th February the MCID BEready Cohort team will welcome cantonal and national representatives from health, education, politics, media and academic research to an information meeting. In this meeting, attendees will be introduced to the plans for the "Bern, get ready" Cohort pilot study and presented with initial results of an online survey of the Bernese population.

MCID Ethics and Policy lab: research ethics workshop

On 7th March, the Ethics and Policy Lab will workshop on research ethics, open to MCID researchers.

MCID Co-Chair, Volker Thiel, to act as member of the Swiss Covid-19 Scientific Advisory Panel

Volker Thiel will provide coronavirus expertise as a member of the Covid-19 Scientific Advisory Panel, formed to provide independent analysis and advice on behalf of the Swiss government.

New Co-presidents of the SCNAT Biology Platform

MCID Co-Chair, Carmen Faso and Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser, head of FIWI, Vetsuisse, take on co-presidency of the SCNAT Biology Platform

MCID Members awarded the Charles C. Shepard award for their work on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Microbiology cluster members Fabien Labroussaa, Jenna Kelly, Ronald Dijkman, Jörg Jores, Charaf Benarafa, Volker Thiel and collaborators awarded the Charles C. Shepherd award for scientific excellence for their Nature paper on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (click for publication).

Registration open: European Mucosal Immunology Group meeting 2023

Registration is now open for the 12th European Mucosal Immunology Group Meeting, to be held in Bern from 12th-14th July 2023. Early registration closes on 28th February.

Register now: 16th International Nidovirus Symposium

Registration is now open for the 16th International Nidovirus Symposium to be held in Montreux, Switzerland from 14th-18th May 2023.

MCID Members awarded NRP79 "Advancing 3R" funding

Members of the MCID Immunology Cluster, Prof. Dr. med. Andrew Macpherson and Prof. Dr. Siegfried Hapfelmeier have been awarded SNSF NRP 79 funding for "3R in animal experiments" projects entitled, respectively, "EXPLOR3R: Exploring 3R with experimental ethics" and "Using Zophobas morio larvae to design a new in vivo model of intestinal colonisation due to multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales". See here for details of all funded projects.

MCID Members chosen as members of the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox

MCID Members Prof. Dr. Kathrin Summermatter and Prof. Dr. med. Nicola Low have been made members of the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox.

Integrating scientific findings into political processes: possibilities and limitations

Dr. Johanna Hornung and Dr. Caroline Schlaufer of the MCID Ethics and Policy Cluster discuss this topic in the "décodage" blog of the SAGW (Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften).

MCID Opening Event and Scientific Symposium

On the 9th and 10th June the MCID held its Official Opening Event and first annual Scientific Symposium. See here for more details about the event and a full program.

MCID launches a new call for research project funding: the Early-Career Research Grant for Women

On 1st March 2022 the MCID Bern launched a new research project funding call: the Early-Career Research Grant for Women. The deadline for applications is Friday 20th May 2022.

MCID member PD Dr. Christian Althaus starts lecture series at Collegium generale

The Collegium generale at the University of Bern begins a new new lecture series titled "Thinking the End". On Wednesday, 23 February 2022, MCID member PD Dr. Christian Althaus will give the first lecture with his thoughts about the end of a pandemic.

MCID-Omicron Event, December 8th 2021

Newly founded: A multidisciplinary center for research into infectious diseases and immunity

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