Congratulations to Prof. Jens Kuhle and Prof. Tobias Derfuss, two RC2NB researches, who have been honored with an award by the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Society. The recognition, endowed with 100,000 Swiss francs, goes to both of them for their exceptional contributions to MS research and their great commitment to those affected by the disease.

Both work in neurology at the University Hospital Basel (USB) and collaborate closely with each other at the RC2NB. They both sit on the medical-scientific advisory board of the Swiss MS Society.

Read more on the Medinside Website.

Last updated 31 Jan 2023

Congratulations to Prof. Cristina Granziera, Workstream Leader and Deputy Head of RC2NB for receiving the highly prestigious Bing Research Prize 2022 awarded by the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences. 

The Prize was awarded in appreciation of her important contributions in the interface of clinical neurology, neuroradiology and medical physics. Applying highly innovative, advanced neuroimaging methods, allows her to better characterize the changes occurring in the brain and spinal cord of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and to identify biomarkers that offer a very promising foundation for novel diagnostic procedures. Prof. Granziera’s results, internationally recognized and validated in large longitudinal clinical studies, have a direct impact on the treatment and follow-up of patients with multiple sclerosis. 

Last updated 31 Jan 2023

With Ludwig Kappos and Jens Kuhle two RC2NB researchers have been named on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers™ list 2022.

The list identifies researchers based on the citation counts of their work in the last ten years, indicating the impact of their work. Clarivate™  states that “Of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists, Highly Cited Researchers™ are 1 in 1,000.”

In 2022, Clarivate™ counts a total of 6938 researchers from 21 research fields and 69 countries.

For the third time in a row, Jens Kuhle, Head of Multiple Sclerosis Centre at the University Hospital Basel and DKF/DBM research group leader, is awarded an SNF project grant for the development of biomarkers for the detection and prognosis of disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) on a personalised level.

Read more on the Department of Clinical Research website. 

More than 50 people with multiple sclerosis support the development of the novel dreaMS digital health app, by participating in a clinical validation study led by the Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB).

The dreaMS app provides so-called digital biomarkers, measurements of health status and disease progression collected in the usual everyday life in a real-world environment by using a smartphone. Digital biomarkers aim to detect subtle disease progression earlier and more comprehensively, thus complementing standard assessments by neurologists, laboratory or neuroradiological examinations. The dreaMS app is part of a digital platform for optimized disease management to better involve patients and improve the communication with their health care team. DreaMS and the digital platform are developed jointly by the RC2NB and Healios AG, Basel.

The DreaMS validation study started in April 2022, and with the enrollment of 50 patients, has now reached an important milestone.

Participants in the dreaMS study install the dreaMS app on their own smartphone and digital biomarkers are then collected over a period of 2 years. This digital information will be compared with state of the art established clinical, imaging, and body fluid assessments obtained in the framework of the Swiss MS Cohort Study over the study period. Good agreement would indicate high validity of the digital biomarkers. Digital biomarkers are expected to allow earlier and more comprehensible detection of subtle disease progression and in the future allow to tailor treatment more individually.

PD Dr Johannes Lorscheider, PI of this study, said, ‘The DreaMS validation study will provide valuable information on the reliability and accuracy of monitoring disease evolution and treatment response with a digital app. With validated digital biomarkers, we hope to further improve the care of our patients.’

Professor Ludwig Kappos, director of the RC2NB said, ‘We are very grateful to all our collaborators, funders and partners who are supporting us at RC2NB to explore this fascinating future field and to find and establish generally accepted digital measures for better care of persons with MS and other neurological diseases’.

The news has also been published by the University Hospital Basel on their website.  

Last updated 31 Oct 2022

Last updated 31 Oct 2022

We just published the results of the first reliability and acceptance assessment of the dreaMS software application in the Journal of Neurology.

Woelfle T, Pless S, Reyes O, Wiencierz A, Feinstein A, Calabrese P, Gugleta K, Kappos L, Lorscheider J, Naegelin Y. Reliability and acceptance of dreaMS, a software application for people with multiple sclerosis: a feasibility study. J Neurol. 2022 Aug 30:1–10

[PubMed] 

Last updated: 5 Sept 2022

The paper "High-dimensional immune profiling identifies a biomarker to monitor dimethyl fumarate response in multiple sclerosis" has published in PNAS. 

Understanding the immunobiology of multiple sclerosis remains an unresolved challenge. Distinctive features of therapeutic response to effective treatments are one important source of insight into the underlying pathomechanisms. Here, we studied dimethyl fumarate, a routinely administered but mechanistically poorly understood compound. We developed an approach using multipanel immunophenotyping by mass cytometry in conjunction with a weakly supervised machine-learning algorithm to facilitate unprejudiced identification of rare but specific immune cell populations accounting for beneficial treatment response. This approach allowed identification of a subset of antigen-experienced T helper cells that are preferentially depleted in responding individuals. As a biomarker, this subset may guide clinical stratification.

Last updated 9 Aug 2022

Last updated 16 May 2022

Last updated 17 Feb 2022