Bern Center for Precision Medicine

BCPM Logo

The Center is dedicated to advancing precision medicine approaches by fostering the research and development of medical treatments and therapy methods. It provides an interdisciplinary platform for scientists and clinicians. It is active in research support, networking, and education.

To the BCPM website

Director

Prof. Mark Rubin

Profile

  • The Bern Center for Precision Medicine (BCPM) comprises an executive board, a scientific review committee, and an operational office. Headed by Prof. Mark Rubin, the center currently counts 101 full members and many affiliate non-voting members, all from different institutes of the University of Bern.
  • The BCPM is active in research, education, networking, and outreach. It strengthens the national and international position of the University and the Inselspital in precision medicine
  • The Center offers a PhD specialization and an MSc module visited by bioinformaticians, biomedical students, pharmacists and medical students. It covers 14 topics such as the use of PM in cancer treatment, gene therapy, organoids, gender medicine, ethics, and data privacy.

External Partners

External partners of the BCPM include universities such as the ETH Zurich, cantonal hospitals, and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

Grants

As of 2025, the BCPM has awarded more than CHF 4.558 m for 34 precision medicine research projects, which then collected a total of CHF 26.524 m of external funding grants in return.

Highlights 2025

The cardiologist Katja Odening with her team and co-PIs, among them Anne Gregor, Christiane Zweier, Nadia Mercader, and Marco Osterwalder.

Cardiology Lighthouse-Project PACE with targeted therapy in animal models

Within the framework of a BCPM lighthouse project, Researchers under the lead of Prof. Dr. Katja Odening have developed a "suppress and replace" gene therapy that successfully corrected life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias in an animal model. By targeting the genetic cause of Short QT syndrome type 1, the treatment normalized the heart's electrical signals and reduced the risk of sudden cardiac death. This targeted approach, delivered via viral vectors directly to the heart, offers a potential alternative to invasive defibrillators or medication, as presented at the BCPM cardiology symposium on 8 September 2025.

To the Media Release of the University

Sample preparation for genome sequencing

Successful PhD Specialization in Precision Medicine

Since spring 2025, the student number has more than doubled, and the University of Bern has now six PhD students with a specialization in Precision Medicine (the PhD Specialization started in November 2024 with its first student, who is currently investigating a truly interdisciplinary research project together with the VetSuisse faculty and the Bern University of Applied Sciences – then came more PhD students with interdisciplinary projects, and we expect even more to come in the future).

To the Website of the BCPM