The focus of our activities is the investigation of inflammatory skin disease, especially neutrophil-mediated inflammatory dermatoses (NMID). We have two groups of investigators working on projects addressing genetic & pathophysiological questions (NMID-Team) (//biomedizin.unibas.ch/en/research/research-groups/navarini-lab/), as well as a newer Vision-Team (//dbe.unibas.ch/en/persons/alexander-navarini/) whose aim is to transform visual information into quantifiable phenotypic data.
Our PhD student Adhideb Ghosh uses whole exome sequencing and bioinformatic search approaches to detect causative genetic alterations in a whole range of inflammatory skin conditions. Currently in the pipeline are pyoderma gangrenosum, Sweet syndrome, pustular psoriasis and primary immunodeficiencies. See each person’s detailed information and the project page for further information.
On the clinical side of the NMID projects, clinician-scientist Florian Anzengruber, Julia-Tatjana Maul and several doctoral (MD) and master students contribute as well.
For several years, we are also interested in the visual-phenotypical aspects of skin conditions. We use machine-learning approaches to detect skin lesions, 3D techniques to reconstruct spatial images and other types of spectral imaging to detect new aspects of skin diseases.
Our three PhD students Ludovic Amruthalingam, Philippe Gottfrois and Valery Metry drive these approaches forward. They are partly co-supervised with Prof. Marc Pouly (HSLU), Prof. Thomas Koller (HSLU), Prof. Mathias Bonmarin (ZHAW). Our master student Ji Qi (Freiburg) further strengthens our expertise in IR imaging. We enjoy fruitful, close collaborations with the ETHZ (Marc Pollefeys and Martin Oswald. Please check out our classification algorithm demos on skinsifter.com.
Many skin diseases and questions related to them cannot be addressed effectively working alone. In fact, most of our research is done in collaborations. We are glad to be part of the Swiss Dermatology Network of Targeted Therapy (SDNTT), International Rare and Severe Psoriasis Expert Network (EIRASPEN, PI Navarini), and have helped to start the international registry for toxic epidermal necrolysis (IRTEN). Also, we help to drive forward the production of Swiss clinical guidelines including for psoriasis and rosacea.
