Research at the Center for Emerging Viral Diseases consists of:
- Translational Research
- Clinical Research
Translational Research
The research group focuses on the study of emerging zoonotic viruses, the development of new diagnostic tests, and respiratory viruses such as coronaviruses.
Initiatives and affiliations
- Co-leader of the WHO Collaborating Center for Epidemic and Pandemic Diseases
- Co-leader of the CoViNet expert laboratory network on coronaviruses (joint appointment with the Institute of Virology and Immunology, Mittelhäusern)
- Expert at the Robert Koch Institute on pandemic respiratory infections
- Expert of the subgroup on immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 variants of the WHO Technical Advisory Groups on Virus Evolution and Vaccine Composition
- Expert of the subgroup on laboratory markers of severity of SARS-CoV-2 variants of the WHO Technical Advisory Groups on Virus Evolution and Vaccine Composition.
Current and past research funds (selection)
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) project: “Arms race between viral evolution and population immunity - Understanding the impact of antibody pressure on SARS-CoV-2 variants and human endemic coronaviruses”.
- Moderna, investigator-sponsored trial: “MIViral - Mucosal Immunity: Influence on Infectious Viral Load: a prospective observational study” (joint study with Centre de vaccinologie, PATIM, UNIGE).
- Fondation Carigest, “Establishment of an in vitro model of polarized human primary airway epithelial cells from children for the study of viral respiratory infections”
- Horizon 2020, European Union, Project: “European Alliance for Clinical Research in Infectious Diseases - ECRAID-Base”.
- National Research Program (NRP) of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF): 78 “Covid-19”, Project: “Large-scale serological profiling of SARS-CoV-2 and related human CoVs using high-throughput microfluidic immunoassays”, (joint project, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL).
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Special call on coronaviruses, Project: “Phenotypic characterization of a biobank of SARS-CoV-2 clinical strains and assessment of the risk of evolution of virus variants”.
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Special call on coronaviruses, Project: “Real-time pandemic functional characterization of SARS-CoV-2”. (Joint project, Institute of Virology and Immunology, Berne).
- Collaborating laboratory of the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics (FIND): “Support for accurate diagnosis of 2019-nCoV”.
- Fondation privée HUG: Support for rapid response to SARS-CoV-2
- Fondation Pictet, project: “COVID-19, the new challenge for the Center for Emerging Viral Diseases - Understanding transmission and risk factors of COVID-19 in primary cell culture models”.
- Ernst and Lucie Schmidheiny Foundation: Project: “Evaluation of the host switching capacity of newly identified bat filoviruses via a single amino acid change in the tip glycoprotein”.
Clinical Research
Clinical Research
Titre
EVIDIX
Description
Le projet de recherche EVIDIX mené par la Dre Pauline Vetter, cherche à mieux comprendre comment se manifeste une infection par un virus émergent ou ré-émergent. Il étudie les symptômes, leur durée, le temps pendant lequel une personne peut transmettre le virus et la réaction du système immunitaire après l’infection.
Contact: Scanner le QR code:
Titre
Study INFLUENT
Description
CCER 2024-01535
The SNSF's special Investigator Initiated Clinical Trial (IICT) program has chosen to support a multi-center Swiss study on the treatment of influenza in hospitalized patients led by Dr. Pauline Vetter. This randomized trial will evaluate the clinical efficacy of antiviral treatment vs placebo in hospitalized influenza patients. As no such data have been ever obtained in this population, the trial will allow to close an important knowledge gap, and eventually help establish sound clinical recommendations. The study started enrolling in December 2024 at HUG and in January 2025 in Zurich, Locarno and Lugano (Ticino), and Lausanne (CHUV). It will run for 3 influenza seasons.
- Read more here on the rationale behind this project.
- More information here
- Flyer for participants (in French)
Titre
MIVIRAL
Description
Mucosal Immunity: Influence on Infectious Viral Load: a prospective observational study (MIVIRAL)
In a prospective, observational study between the Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases and the Centre for Vaccinology (Pis: Prof. Isabella Eckerle, Dr Benjamin Meyer), we are investigating how mucosal immunity and systemic immunity influence the excretion of infectious viruses, the immune response after infection and the severity of the disease.
This study is an investigator-initiated trial funded by Moderna.
NCT05794412
CCER: 2022-01722
Titre
ECRAID
Description
European Clinical research Aliance on Infectious Diseases (ECRAID), Disease X study
ECRAID is a European-wide initiative that aims to establish a self-sustaining clinical research organisation and network for infectious diseases. The first of its kind, ECRAID will bring together clinical research in emerging infectious diseases with antimicrobial resistance. In the Perpetual observational study POS-Disease X, we establish a clinical research network to respond to any emerging pathogen. We also study atypical viral syndromes in immunocompromised patients by using metagenomics. Geneva is a partner of ECRAID and one of the 8 study sites.
CCER 2024-00673
HEPESERO
HEPESERO : Evaluation of the performance of novel and innovative Hepatitis E serological assays.
The aim of this study is to develop and improve multiplex serological tests based on beads for the hepatitis E virus, in order to better diagnose and estimate the burden of hepatitis E in LIMCs. The study is a project led by Prof. Isabella Eckerle, Dr Benjamin Meyer from the Centre for Vaccinology and Dr Sophie Waldvogel Abramowski from the Laboratory of Transfusion Immuno-Haematology.
CCER-2025-00068