Research Focus

Oncology & Hematology

Area of Research

Reconstructive surgery with a focus on breast cancer and supermicrosurgical lymphatic reconstruction, pre-surgical risk assessment of microsurgical breast reconstruction as well as a strong focus on the pre- and post-surgical assessment of patient reported outcome and quality of life.

For completed research projects, please see the list of publications.

For ongoing research projects, please see section “Ongoing Research Projects”

National Collaborations

• Prof. Dr. med. Walter Paul Weber, Breast Surgery, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Navarini, Dermatology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Dr. Elisabeth Roider, Dermatology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Mohamed Bentires-Alj, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel
• Prof. Dr. Arnaud Scherberich, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel
• Prof. Dr. Heinz Läubli, Oncology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Alfred Zippelius, Oncology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. med. Martin Haug, Klinik für Plastische, Rekonstruktive, Ästhetische Chirurgie, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. med. Yves Harder, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano
• PD Dr. Pietro di Summa, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne
• Prof. Dr. med. Nicole Lindenblatt, Klinik für Plastische, Rekonstruktive, Aesthetische und Handchirurgie, Universitätsspital Zürich
• PD Dr. Mario Scaglioni, Klinik für Hand- und Plastische Chirurgie, Luzerner Kantonsspital
• Prof. Dr. Daniel Kalbermatten, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève (HUG)
• Dr. Florian Jung, Kantonsspital Winterthur
• Prof. Dr. Maria Katapodi, Universitätsspital Basel
• PD Dr. Khalil Zaman, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV)
• PD Dr. Lars Hemkens, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Daniel Staub, Universitätsspital Basel
• Dr. Stephan Wagner, Rehaklinik Bad Zurzach
• Dr. Karin Ribi, International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG)
• Jane Shaw, Oncoplastic Breast Consortium
• Prof. Dr. Matthias Schwenkglenks, University of Basel
• Prof. Dr. Cristina Granziera, Universitätsspital Basel
• Yvette Stoel, ZHAW Winterthur

International Collaborations

• Prof. Dr. Andrea Pusic, MD, MHS, FACS, FRCSC, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
• Dr. med. Katrin Seidenstücker, Lymphchirurgie, Sana Kliniken Düsseldorf, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Christoph Hirche, Plastische Chirurgie, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
• Prof. Dr. med. Ulrich Kneser, BG Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie Ludwigshafen der Ruprecht Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
• Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Björn Behr, MBA, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie und Handchirurgie, BG Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany
• Prof. Dr. med. Lukas Prantl, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie, Uniklinik Regensburg, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Vesna Bjelic-Radisic, Landesfrauenklinik, Wuppertal, Germany
• Dr. Anne Karoline Groth, Hospital Erasato Gaertner, Curitiba, Brasil
• Prof. Dr. Efterpi Demiri, Papageorgiou Hospital of Thessaloniki, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• Dr. Maximilian Vlad Muntean, Institute of Oncology Cluj-Napoca, Rumania
• Dr. Eduardo González, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentinia
• Prof. Gianluca Franceschini, Unità Operativa di Chirurgia Senologica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli” di Roma, Italy
• Dr. Maria Mani, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
• Dr. Martin Halle, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Clinical Trials:

• Combining Reconstructive and Ablative Surgical Treatment of Chronic Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema (BCRL): Safe and Effective.
• Vascularized Lymph Node Transfer and Lymphaticovenous Anastomosis in the Treatment of Chronic Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema
• Surgical versus Conservative Complex Physical Decongestion Therapy (CDT) for Chronic Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema (BCRL): A Pragmatic, Randomized, Multicenter Superiority Trial. PI, funded by SNF (IICT program), Rising Tide Foundation & Stiftung Krebsforschung Schweiz. Ethical approval pending.

Translational Research:

• Decoding signals that trigger malignant transformation in breast tissue. Collaboration with: Prof M Bentires-Alj, PhD, Alexandra Munsch M Sc.
• Tissue Engineering: Regenerative potential of fat stem cells in the formation of different tissue matrices.Collaboration with Prof A. Scherberich.
• Prevention of skin cancer, by topic application of different agents. Collaboration with Dr Elisabeth Roider, Dermatology
• Human epidermal organoids, a reproducible culture system recapitulating the epidermis. Collaboration with A. Navarini, Dermatology
• Tumor heterogeneity mediates acquired resistance to adoptive T cell therapy and immune evasion in melanoma Collaboration with H. Läubli and F. Zippelius, Oncology