Research Focus

Critical Care & Respiratory Medicine

Area of Research

• Mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of lung diseases, with focus on asthma and COPD
• Evaluation and characterization of asthma and COPD progression and exacerbation
• Assessment of prognostic markers allowing risk stratification in asthma and COPD
• Identification of disease-specific cell-response pathways in order to improve therapeutic strategies and management of asthma and COPD
• Elucidation of the mechanisms involved in responsiveness to inhaled corticosteroids in asthma and COPD

• Swiss National Foundation Grant - 5th Follow-up for SAPALDIA, Longitudinal Study Call 2017, SNF: SAPALDIA Cohort on Healthy Aging (co-applicant)
• Kompetenznetz ambulant erworbene Pneumonie – CAPNETZ Studie, 2018. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven
• FAILCAP study – Clinical failure and cardiovascular events in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia, 2010-2022. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven (co-investigator)
• EMBARC - European Bronchiectasis Registry, 2015-ongoing. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven (co-investigator)
• Multiplex PCR on the Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid of Immunocompromised Patients, 2016-2018. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Bronchial thermoplasty decreases airway remodelling by blocking epithelium-derived heat shock protein-60 secretion and protein arginine methyltransferase-1 in fibroblasts, 2017-2018. Translational Study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven
• Multiplex bacterial polymerase chain reaction in a cohort of patients with pleural effusion, 2017-2019. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Clinical impact of multiplex bacterial PCR of bronchoalveolar lavage in patients with suspected LRTI, 2016-2019. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Does trumpet playing affect lung function? —A case-control study, 2018-2019. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• The BioVent - BIOmarkers for mechanically VENTilated patients cohort study, 2013-2022. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven
• SAPALDIA cohort on Healthy Aging, 2017-2021. Translational study, multicentric, national, investigator initiated and driven (co-PI)
• Predictive value of oxygen desaturation during conscious sedation for flexible bronchoscopy regarding Obstructive Sleep Apnea – The PROSA-Study, 2019-2020. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Breath analysis using the Aeonose to diagnose acute pulmonary embolism, 2019-2021. Translational study, multicentric, national, investigator initiated and driven (co-investigator)
• Integrated host gene expression diagnostic in suspected pneumonia and COPD exacerbation, 2019-ongoing. Translational study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Nitrogen Washout versus Methacholin bronchoprovocation test for the diagnosis of bronchial asthma in patients with respiratory symptoms, 2019-ongoing. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Bronchial thermoplasty in asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS), 2017-2021. Translational study, multicentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• The ADORABLE study - The use of N2-washout for the early detection of bronchiolitis obliterans after allogeneic stem cell transplantation, 2016-ongoing. Translational study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Respiratory Exacerbation Symptoms in COPD Undergoing Evaluation – The RESCUE study: Evaluating the usefulness of CT-scans in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients with exacerbations of respiratory symptoms. The RESCUE Study, 2020-ongoing. A randomised, interventional, controlled, non-inferiority study, multicentric, international, investigator-initiated and driven
• Curbing High Risk of Non-obstructive smokers (the CHRONOS study) – an intervention study including the SAPALDIA cohort 2020-2023. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven
• Swiss National Foundation Grant - The ratio of C/EBP-α to C/EBP-β controls airway wall remodeling in asthma through the regulation of microRNA-17-92 cluster, PRMT1 and mitochondria in airway smooth muscle cells“ 2017-2019 (co-applicant)
• Histological, cellular and molecular investigation of steroid responsiveness in COPD – The Historic study 2017-2022, Astra-Zeneca AG, unrestricted grant
• Fast Multiplex Assay of Gram-negative rods for antibiotic stewardship in hospitalized patients – The Flagship Study, 2017-2018, Curetis AG, unrestricted grant
• Swiss National Foundation Grant - Towards precision medicine in COPD - Investigation of glucocorticoid responsiveness using primary airway cells from COPD patients 2019-2022
• Member Research Team NFS (Nationaler Forschungsschwerpunkt) «NCCR-AntiResist: Neue Ansätze zur Bekämpfung Antibiotika-resistenter Bakterien», supported by the SNF, 2020-2023
• Artificial Intelligence feasibility study for automated detection of sleep disorders, 2022. A study performed to determine the feasibility of a machine learning (ML) based approach for the automated analysis of polysomnography (PSG) data.
• Preventing oxygen desaturation during bronchoscopy in patients with COPD comparing two oxygenation methods: PROSA II, 2021-ongoing. Evaluation of whether oxygen delivery using HFNO during sedation for bronchoscopy will improve oxygenation in patients with COPD compared to conventional oxygen by nasal cannula.
• Quality control of antibiotic stewardship. FLAGSHIP IV, 2022-ongoing. Evaluation of whether a rapid multiplex PCR of BAL can decrease time on inappropriate antimicrobial therapy in patients with LRTI compared to conventional microbiological investigations alone.
• Metagenomics in COPD and COPD exacerbations, 2021-ongoing. Metagenomic analysis in 3000 samples from sputum and nasopharengyal swabs
• Metagenomics after allogeneic stem cell transplantation, 2021-ongoing. Metagenomic analysis in samples from 181 patients who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation

National Collaborations

• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (Prof. Donath and Prof. Christ-Crain)
• University Hospital Basel, Emergency Department (Prof. Bingisser, Prof. Nickel)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Microbiology and Clinical Virology (Prof. Hirsch, Dr. Leuzinger)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Pathology (Prof. Bubendorf and Prof. Savic)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology (Prof. Khanna and Prof. Battegay)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Internal Medicine (Prof. Bassetti and Prof. Osthoff)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Hematology (Prof. Passweg, Prof. Halter)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Clinical Microbiology (Prof. Egli)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Research and Analytical Services (Dr. Stieltjes)
• University Hospital Basel, Dept. of Cardiac and Thoracic Diagnostics (Prof. Bremerich)
• Department of Biomedicine, Tumor Heterogeneity, Metastasis and Resistance (Prof. Bentires-Alj)
• University Children’s Hospital Basel (Prof. Frey, Prof. Trachsler, Prof. Hammer)
• University Hospital Lausanne CHUV (Prof. Eggimmann, Prof. Aubert)
• University Hospital Zürich (Prof. Maggiorini, Dr. Graf, Prof. Kölzer, Dr. Nowak)
• University Hospital Bern (Prof. Hilty)
• Kanton Hospital Aarau, Switzerland (Prof. Müller, Prof. Schütz)
• University Hospital Genf (Prof. Rochat)
• Kanton Hospital St. Gallen (Prof. Brutsche, Prof. Albricht)

International Collaborations

• University Hospital Paris (Prof. Chastre)
• University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands (Prof. Wouters, Prof. Franssens)
• Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany (Prof. Welte)
• University Hospital Clinic Barcelona, Spain (Prof. Torres)
• University Hospital Badalona, Spain (Prof. Prat)
• University Hospital Milano, Italy (Prof. Blasi, Prof. Aliberti)
• University Hospital Liege, Belgium (Prof. Louis)
• University of Ionannina Medical School, Greece (Assoc. Prof. Kostikas)
• Medical Center Alkmaar, The Netherlands (Prof. Boersma)
• Hospital Breda, The Netherlands (Dr. Aerts)
• University Hospital Belgrade, Serbia (Prof. Milenkovic)
• University Hospital Gent (Prof. Claus Bachert)
• University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy (Prof. Matera)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Italy (Prof Rogliani; Prof. Cazzola)
• University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands (Prof. Gosens; Prof. van den Berge)
• Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, UK (Prof. Singh; Prof. Hanania; Prof. Vestbo)
• Amsterdam University Medical Centers, The Netherlands (Prof. Maitland-van der Zee)
• Sackler Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology, King's College London, UK (Prof. Page)
• Philips University Marburg, Germany (Prof. Renz, Prof. Schmeck)
• University Medical Center Freiburg (Prof. Binder, Prof. Henneke, Prof. Ehl, Prof. Zeisser, Prof. Wengenmayer)
• Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen- Nürnberg (Prof. Ganslandt, Prof. Prokosch)
• Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt (Prof. Rohde, Prof. Zielen, Prof. Bucher)
• Justus Liebig University Gießen (Prof. Schneider, Prof. Kuhnert)
• J. Gutenberg University Mainz (Prof. Buhl, Prof. Strauch)
• University Medicine Charité (Prof. Lehmann, Prof. Elis)
• Hannover Medical University (Prof. Dittrich, Prof. Hansen)
• Ulm University (Prof. Kestler)
• Saarland University (Prof. Bals, Prof. Wagenpfeil)
• University Essen (Prof. Taube, Prof. Nensa)
• University of Hamburg (Prof. Ückert)

• BASel cohort of patients undergoing bronchoscopy on COPD  – BASCO Study. 2006-ongoing. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven. 460 patients have already been included.
• Immunocommpromised patients with suspicion of LRTI undergoing bronchoscopy – the ImmunSup cohort Study. 2008-on-going. Clinical study, multicentric, national, investigator initiated and driven. 3261 patients have already been included
• EMBARC - European Bronchiectasis Registry. 2015-ongoing. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven. 75 patients have already been included.
• Preventing oxygen desaturation during bronchoscopy in patients with COPD comparing two oxygenation methods: PROSA II. 2021-ongoing. Evaluation of whether oxygen delivery using HFNO during sedation for bronchoscopy will improve oxygenation in patients with COPD compared to conventional oxygen by nasal cannula.
• Quality control of antibiotic stewardship. FLAGSHIP IV. 2022-ongoing. Evaluation of whether a rapid multiplex PCR of BAL can decrease time on inappropriate antimicrobial therapy in patients with LRTI compared to conventional microbiological investigations alone.
• Metagenomics in COPD and COPD exacerbations. 2021-ongoing. Metagenomic analysis in 3000 samples from sputum and nasopharengyal swabs.
• Metagenomics after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. 2021-ongoing. Metagenomic analysis in samples from 181 patients who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation
• The ADORABLE study - The use of N2-washout for the early detection of bronchiolitis obliterans after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Translational study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven. Sponsor: UHB. Implementing Institution: UHB unrestricted grant. 181 patients. 2016-2022
• The BioVent - BIOmarkers for mechanically VENTilated patients cohort study. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven. Clinical study, multicentric, international, investigator initiated and driven. Sponsor: UHB. Implementing Institution: UHB. 1000 patients. 2013-2022
• The HISTORIC study - Histological, cellular and molecular Investigation of Steroid Responsiveness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Translational study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven. Sponsor: UHB. Implementing Institution: UHB unrestricted grant. 188 patients. 2017-2022
• Respiratory Exacerbation Symptoms in COPD Undergoing Evaluation – The RESCUE study: Evaluating the usefulness of CT-scans in the diagnosis and management of COPD patients with exacerbations of respiratory symptoms. A randomised, interventional, controlled, non-inferiority study - The RESCUE Study. Sponsor: UHB. Implementing Institution: UHB. 18 patients. 2020-2022
• Integrated host gene expression diagnostic in suspected pneumonia and COPD exacerbation. Τranslational study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven. Sponsor: UHB. Implementing Institution: UHB. 669 patients. 2019-2022
• Nitrogen Washout versus Methacholin bronchoprovocation test for the diagnosis of bronchial asthma in patients with respiratory symptoms. Clinical study, monocentric, national, investigator initiated and driven. Sponsor: UHB. Implementing Institution: UHB unrestricted grant. 106 patients. 2019-2022
• Towards precision medicine in COPD-Investigation of glucocorticoid responsiveness using primary airway cells from COPD patients. SNF 2019-2022
• Curbing High Risk of Non-obstructive smokers (the CHRONOS study) – an intervention study including the SAPALDIA cohort 2020-2023