The Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Bern is engaged in research with the aim to advance veterinary medicine for the benefit of animals, humans, and the environment. Core thematic areas of research have been specified to promote collaboration within and beyond the faculty. These include Animal Health and Welfare, Infectious Diseases and One Health, and Sustainability and Biodiversity.
The faculty maintains a Faculty Clinical Research Platform (FCRP) to foster early-career clinician scientists and facilitate collaborative clinical research. It also hosts the Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases (MCID), a strategic center of the University of Bern, aimed at determining the origins of infectious disease risks, preparing for emerging diseases and managing these risks.
The faculty plays an active role in the use and further development of all of the university’s core facilities, notably the Experimental Animal Center (EAC), the Interfaculty Bioinformatics Unit (IBU), the Microscopy Imaging Center (MIC), the Next Generation Sequencing Platform (NGSP), and the Data Science Lab (DSL). This involvement enables the faculty to leverage state-of-the-art research infrastructure for veterinary and biomedical research, as well as contributing to its strategic advancement.
Research Project
In order to breed laying hens that are more resilient, the project uses tracking technology within a commercial barn to identify how movement of laying hen influences and is affected by disease and injury, genetics, and neurogenesis.
Michael Toscano, Matthew Petelle, Sabine Gebhardt, Alex Johny
The overarching aim of this project will be to advance the understanding of BRD in dairy pre-weaning calves by integrating high-resolution clinical assessment and pathogen profiling. By doing so, it will improve animal health, welfare, and sustainability, aligning with One Health and Green Deal.
Claire Lefèvre, Jacinto Joana, Zanolari Patrik, Bodmer Michèle
Alveolar echinococcosis is a life-threatening infection caused by the fox tapeworm. Since current drugs only inhibit parasite growth, we develop new therapies targeting key metabolic pathways to achieve more effective, curative treatments.
Britta Lundström
The project’s goal is to document the exposure of calves on Swiss dairy farms to antimicrobials in waste milk, and to evaluate the association between such exposure and the carriage of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in calves.
Véronique Bernier Gosselin, Mireille Meylan
Research
The 2025 Faculty Award for the best veterinary dissertation goes to Cleo Schwarz from the Institute of Genetics. Schwarz identified the genetic variant responsible for a neurodegenerative disease in Miniature American Shepherd dogs.
The Vetsuisse Faculty in Bern honors Julia Helen Schäfer in recognition of her outstanding scientific contribution to animal welfare. With her work “Management, health, and veterinary care of donkeys in Switzerland: A cross-sectional study,” she has created a comprehensive and representative database on the husbandry conditions, feeding, and veterinary care of donkeys in Switzerland.
The Albert Heim Foundation supports research projects related to canine research. We also report on this year's Albert Heim Foundation event at the Natural History Museum in Bern, where prizes were awarded to young researchers from the Vetsuisse Faculty.
Read article (only in German)
Martín González Fernández, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Animal Pathology, has been awarded this year's Dr. Lutz and Dr. Celia Zwillenberg Prize. His research has uncovered a new mechanism of chemotherapy response in mouse models for BRCA1-deficient breast cancer.
An interdisciplinary team from the Vetsuisse Faculty, together with researchers from FIBL, the University of Basel, and Miguel Hernández University of Elche, has been awarded a COST research grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project is investigating whether selected medicinal plants can improve the health of calves and reduce the use of antibiotics in newly relocated male calves before weaning.
Forschung
The latest issue of The SPREAD shows how our immune system interacts with microorganisms and how it changes over the course of our lives. Learn why women may have a different risk of infection around the time of menopause. You will also find a report on the Annual Event in November in the latest MCID newsletter.
Read now!
Georgia Salanti and Volker Thiel have been included in the annual list of most cited researchers. This is not only a confirmation of the continuous excellence of their research, but also of the significant and far-reaching influence of the two MCID members in their fields.
January 22, 2026
16:15
DIP Seminar
January 23, 2026
10:00
Hörsaal Paraklinik
PhD Defense
Jérémy Cherbuin
January 29, 2026
January 30, 2026
14:00
Mittelstrasse 43, Room 220
Martin Wohlfender
February 5, 2026
17:00
Hörsaal Bremgartenstrasse
February 9, 2026
11:00 − 12:00
online
Webinar
Segun Fatumo
Hauptgebäude, Raum 201
University of Bern
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February 11, 2026
12:00 − 13:00
Room 220, Mittelstrasse 43, 3012 Bern
MCID Seminar
Berit Lange
February 12, 2026
February 17, 2026
12:15
Hörsaal Anatomie / Zoom
Science@Lunch
Morgane Geminiani
VPHI-Webinar
Alexandra Fetsch
February 24, 2026
Alba Neher-Mestre
09:00 − 17:00
Vetsuisse-Campus
Vetsuisse Faculty
intern, Anmeldung erforderlich
March 3, 2026
Eleonora Benetti
Stella Mazeri
March 10, 2026
March 17, 2026
Maurice Karani
March 19, 2026
March 24, 2026
March 31, 2026
Eugenia Ancarola