Michal Bassani-Sternberg awarded a Swiss Bridge Award

In the award-winning project, Michal Bassani-Sternberg and her team are focusing specifically on the antigens of viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus, human papillomavirus and Merkel Cell Polyomavirus, which are associated with the development of lymphoma, cervical cancer, Merkel Cell Carcinoma (a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer) and other types of cancer. The researchers first plan to precisely determine the protein fragments of the individual viruses. They will be displayed as antigens on infected cancer cells. Subsequently, they would like to identify special defense cells of the immune system - T cells - that have specific receptors and can recognize the viral antigens. Once identified, these T cells can be developed into advanced immunotherapies.

The other recipient of the 2022 Swiss Bridge Award is Sylvain Peuget from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

[Extract from Swiss Bridge Foundation press release Infection and Cancer: A half a Million Swiss Francs for two research projects]