Research projects/contents

In our research group, we investigate factors that influence the disease course of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. We focus on translational studies using blood, tissue, and stool samples from patients. Our aim is to identify predictors of prognosis, understand triggers of acute flares, and elucidate underlying pathogenic mechanisms.

Close collaborations exist with the Institute of Pathology, the Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the Institute of Laboratory Medicine. For projects around the intestinal microbiome, we joined forces with the mucosal immunology group from the Department of Biomedical Research. We have recently initiated an explanatory randomized trial with blinded outcome assessment to investigate the effects of probiotics (i.e., beneficial bacteria) not only on the composition of the microbiome, but also on metabolomic pathways and host immune function in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. We are also actively involved in  BeBiCo, a cohort study conducting parallel microbiome analyses in mothers and their children.

In addition, we recruit patients for the pediatric SwissIBD Cohort Study, which prospectively follows pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease on an annual basis in whole Switzerland, as well as the Swiss AIH Cohort Study.
The PedNet Bern supports our prospective PHASE III studies with their expertise in patient centered research.

Current research projects

Principal Investigators

  • “Antibody panel diagnostic in inflammatory bowel disease unclassified patients to predict clinical subtypes”
  • “Clinical and genomic characterization of Campylobacter concisus in Children and Adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease”
  • “Medication side effects in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease”
  • “Use of complementary and alternative medicine in pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease – subjective vs. objective views”
  • “The role of fecal and serum D-lactate in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease”
  • “Gene expression and cellular patterns of the innate and adaptive immune system in the pathogenesis of solitary juvenile polyps”


Co- Investigators

  • “Trajectory of microbiota maturation in healthy Bern infants – a network approach”
  • "Systematic Analysis of the Impact of Diagnostic Delay on Disease Course in Pediatric Versus Adult-onset Patients with Ulcerative Colitis: Data from the Swiss IBD Cohort"
  • “Impact of overweight and obesity on disease outcome in the pediatric Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort”
« zurück