News
EAACI Research Fellowship for Andrei Seica
Congratulations to Andrei Seica for being awarded an EAACI Research Fellowship to work on the roles of prostaglandin E2 in helminth infection! While PGE2 is a potent regulatory lipid mediator in a broad range of diseases, its functional roles and mechanisms of action in type 2 immunity are poorly defined. Andrei will help us to dissect how PGE2 modulates type 2 immunity during helminth infection and allergic asthma.
https://eaaci.org/programmes/example-programme-1-4/#research-fellowship-winners
New article on mass spectrometry imaging of eicosanoids in the asthmatic lung
Happy to share our new paper in JACI: Together with the team of Prof. Craig Wheelock (Karolinska Institute Stockholm), we spatially mapped eicosanoid synthesis in the asthmatic lung. This opens up a much better view of how these potent mediators shape the crosstalk between immune and stromal cells during type 2 inflammation. An important milestone in a long-standing collaboration with the Wheelock lab, built on our shared enthusiasm for eicosanoids in asthma.
Thanks to everyone involved!
https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(26)00592-0/fulltext
Faculty award for Sina Bohnacker & Georges Köhler prize for Julia Esser-von Bieren
Postdoc Sina Bohnacker (front, middle) has been awarded a Faculty Award by the UNIL Faculty of Biology and Medicine for her thesis "From viruses to worms - regulation of macrophage activation in infectious disease."
Our PI, Julia Esser-von Bieren has received the Georges-Köhler-Prize from the German Society for Immunology (DGfI) for her groundbreaking work related to type 2 immune responses.
https://www.unil.ch/news/1756125818943
https://dgfi.org/ausgezeichnet-dgfi-early-and-advanced-career-prizes-2025/
Interdisciplinary project to dissect innate immune memory in patients with chronic type 2 inflammatory diseases
We are very grateful to our faculty for supporting our translational efforts and for fostering collaboration with the teams of Dr. Antoine Reinhard (ENT service, CHUV) and Prof. Yannick Muller (Allergy service, CHUV).
FBM transition grant recipients 2025
FBM Transition grant for Sina Bohnacker
Congratulations to Sina Bohnacker for being selected as one of the five young researchers awarded a Transition Grant from our faculty to develop their independent research projects!
https://www.unil.ch/news/fr/1767605231776
Research by our postdoc Sina Bohnacker shows that the helminth parasite Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hpb) uses an enzyme called glutamate dehydrogenase to evade host type 2 immunity:
created with Biorender
New study on ApoE deficiency in N-ERD in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology
credits: A. Mastin/Science Immunology
Our favourite worms on the cover!
Research led by former PhD student and postdoc Antonie Lechner (now UZH) identifies apolipoprotein E (ApoE) as an important protective factor in chronic type 2 inflammatory diseases: Patients with NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease (N-ERD) lack ApoE production by macrophages, resulting in heightened inflammatory activation and susceptibility to ferroptosis, a form of cell death driven by lipid peroxidation:
Spotlight in Trends in Parasitology
Read this nice spotlight by Prof. Bart Everts on our Science Immunology publication:
https://www.cell.com/trends/parasitology/fulltext/S1471-4922(25)00034-0
Kurzgesagt movie about allergies & worms
Fun to watch - our new favourite kurzgesagt movie
highlights the importance and origins of type 2 immunity
Events & Activities
Welcome to Lausanne!
The 2025 annual congress of the Swiss Society for Allergology and Immunology is taking place in beautiful Lausanne this year - looking forward to two days of cutting-edge research
Fun during Team Sledging in Les Diablerets
Team Hike in Ovronnaz
Research
Understanding and targeting type 2 immunity
Please see our key publications
Our ongoing projects aim to understand how type 2 immune responses become chronic and how we can re-set pathological type 2 immunity.
Using a translational approach we aim to uncover the mechanisms underlying chronic type 2 inflammation and uncover new immune regulators produced by helminth parasites. Thus, we hope to contribute to a better understanding and ultimately the improved management of diseases such as asthma, allergy and nasal polyposis.
We are a diverse team with expertise in and passion for
immunology, biochemistry and parasitology.
