Research Focus

Oncology & Hematology

Area of Research

Reconstructive surgery with the following specialties: Microsurgery, breast cancer and supermicrosurgical lymphatic reconstruction, preoperative risk assessment of breast reconstruction as well as focus on the evaluation of the patients' reported
change in quality of life as a result of the treatment.

For completed research projects, please see the list of publications.

For ongoing research projects, please see section “Ongoing Research Projects”

National Collaborations

• Prof. Dr. med. Walter Paul Weber, Breast Surgery, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Navarini, Dermatology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Dr. Elisabeth Roider, Dermatology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Mohamed Bentires-Alj, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel
• Prof. Dr. Arnaud Scherberich, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel
• Prof. Dr. Heinz Läubli, Oncology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Alfred Zippelius, Oncology, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. med. Martin Haug, Klinik für Plastische, Rekonstruktive, Ästhetische Chirurgie, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. med. Yves Harder, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano
• PD Dr. Pietro di Summa, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne
• Prof. Dr. med. Nicole Lindenblatt, Klinik für Plastische, Rekonstruktive, Aesthetische und Handchirurgie, Universitätsspital Zürich
• PD Dr. Mario Scaglioni, Klinik für Hand- und Plastische Chirurgie, Luzerner Kantonsspital
• Prof. Dr. Daniel Kalbermatten, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève (HUG)
• Dr. Florian Jung, Kantonsspital Winterthur
• Prof. Dr. Maria Katapodi, Universitätsspital Basel
• PD Dr. Khalil Zaman, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV)
• PD Dr. Lars Hemkens, Universitätsspital Basel
• Prof. Dr. Daniel Staub, Universitätsspital Basel
• Dr. Stephan Wagner, Rehaklinik Bad Zurzach
• Dr. Karin Ribi, International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG)
• Jane Shaw, Oncoplastic Breast Consortium
• Prof. Dr. Matthias Schwenkglenks, University of Basel
• Prof. Dr. Cristina Granziera, Universitätsspital Basel
• Yvette Stoel, ZHAW Winterthur

International Collaborations

• Prof. Dr. Andrea Pusic, MD, MHS, FACS, FRCSC, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
• Dr. med. Katrin Seidenstücker, Lymphchirurgie, Sana Kliniken Düsseldorf, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Christoph Hirche, Plastische Chirurgie, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
• Prof. Dr. med. Ulrich Kneser, BG Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie Ludwigshafen der Ruprecht Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
• Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Björn Behr, MBA, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie und Handchirurgie, BG Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany
• Prof. Dr. med. Lukas Prantl, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie, Uniklinik Regensburg, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Vesna Bjelic-Radisic, Landesfrauenklinik, Wuppertal, Germany
• Dr. Anne Karoline Groth, Hospital Erasato Gaertner, Curitiba, Brasil
• Prof. Dr. Efterpi Demiri, Papageorgiou Hospital of Thessaloniki, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• Dr. Maximilian Vlad Muntean, Institute of Oncology Cluj-Napoca, Rumania
• Dr. Eduardo González, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentinia
• Prof. Gianluca Franceschini, Unità Operativa di Chirurgia Senologica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli” di Roma, Italy
• Dr. Maria Mani, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
• Dr. Martin Halle, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Clinical Trials:

• Combining Reconstructive and Ablative Surgical Treatment of Chronic Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema (BCRL): Safe and Effective.
• Vascularized Lymph Node Transfer and Lymphaticovenous Anastomosis in the Treatment of Chronic Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema
• Surgical versus Conservative Complex Physical Decongestion Therapy (CDT) for Chronic Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema (BCRL): A Pragmatic, Randomized, Multicenter Superiority Trial. PI, funded by SNF (IICT program), Rising Tide Foundation & Stiftung Krebsforschung Schweiz. Ethical approval pending.

Translational Research:

• Decoding signals that trigger malignant transformation in breast tissue. Collaboration with: Prof M Bentires-Alj, PhD, Alexandra Munsch M Sc.
• Tissue Engineering: Regenerative potential of fat stem cells in the formation of different tissue matrices.Collaboration with Prof A. Scherberich.
• Prevention of skin cancer, by topic application of different agents. Collaboration with Dr Elisabeth Roider, Dermatology
• Human epidermal organoids, a reproducible culture system recapitulating the epidermis. Collaboration with A. Navarini, Dermatology
• Tumor heterogeneity mediates acquired resistance to adoptive T cell therapy and immune evasion in melanoma Collaboration with H. Läubli and F. Zippelius, Oncology