University Zurich, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Switzerland
After studying medicine at the University of Basel (MD 1998 – 2004, PhD thesis 2006 – 2008) at the University of Basel, I went abroad for a Clinical Fellowship “Transplant Infectious Disease” as well as a Post-doctoral fellowship, Li Ka Shing Institute for Virology (2010 – 2011), both at the University of Alberta, Canada.
Back in Switzerland, I became a fellow in Clinical Microbiolgy (FAMH) (2012 – 2015) at the University Hospital of Basel. During the same time (11/2014 – to date) I became “Research Group Leader Applied Microbiology Research” Laboratory in the Department of Biomedicine of the University of Basel. From 2015 to 2022 I was the Head of the Clinical Bacteriology and Mycology at the University Hospital Basel. Since August 2022, I became the Director of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University of Zurich.
My main aims for diagnostics and research are:
- (i) to develop new diagnostic for rapid detection of multidrug resistant and virulent pathogens (risk profiling);
- (ii) to explore novel typing technologies such as whole genome sequencing (including long read sequencing) and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for clinical applications beyond species identification;
- (iii) to develop novel diagnostic approaches handling complex information using bioinformatics and machine learning;
- (iv) to understand pathogens evolution within the host (e.g. during antibiotic treatment); (v) to finally understand pathogen evolution in the broad context of the host/pathogen/environment interaction.
This could lead to the identification of the most critical factors for pathogenicity and resistance development. Such information will allow the generation of novel intervention strategies to impact disease outcomes for a single patient but also the population burden of infections.