Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine

Inselspital Bern

The Department provides an interdisciplinary service in the field of visceral surgery and medicine. In the context of highly specialized medicine, it primarily treats patients with tumors and other complex abdominal diseases.

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Managing Director and Chief of Surgery

Prof. Daniel Candinas

Profile

  • Visceral Surgery – Gastroenterology – Hepatology
  • Endoscopy Unit
  • Transplantation

External Partners

ETH Zurich, Systems Biology and Laboratory of Biological Engineering; Karolinska Institutet, Department of Surgery, Stockholm; University of Geneva, Molecular Biology; University of Neuchâtel, Department of Psychology; Baveno Cooperation (EASL Research Consortium); University Hospital of Bologna, Department of Internal Medicine; University of Freiburg, Germany; Crick Institute London, UK; Harvard Medical School; Institute of Immunology and Department of Pathology University of Cambridge; Kennedy Institute, University of Oxford; Department of Radiology, Jefferson University, USA; Department of Hepatology and Liver Transplantation, Mayo Clinic Rochester, USA; Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain; SCCS (Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort Study); ELTR (European Liver Transplant Registry); STCS (Swiss Transplant Cohort Study); LITMUS Study, DILI Registry Study (Prospective European Drug-induced liver injury Registry); ERN Rare-Liver (European Reference Network – Rare liver diseases)

Grants

  • SNSF: DNA Damage Checkpoint Pathways (Prof. H. Athanassios, CHF 953,302)
  • Gebert Rüf Stiftung: CALDRE – InnoBooster (Dr. F. Baier, CHF 150,000)
  • Innosuisse Schweizerische Agentur für Innovationsförderung:
  • Aquiliv (Prof. D. Keogh-Stroka, CHF 542,695)
  • Digitalisierungskommission der Universität Bern: The CARESCORE (Prof. Beldi, CHF 500,000)
  • Universität Bern MCID Funding Call: MCID- Immune response during liver-stage parasitic infections (MA25_04) (Prof. D. Keogh-Stroka, CHF 160,100)
  • Fondation Aclon: ACLON - Importance and function of PCSK9 in the biliary system. DNA Damage and Origin Firing during Liver Regeneration (Prof. D. Keogh-Stroka, CHF 300,000)
  • Fondation Aclon: ACLON - Rescue of liver regeneration in aged mice and mice with MASH (Prof. H. Athanassios, CHF 200,000)
  • Fondation contre le cancer, Lausanne: Pancreas Tissue Characterization by Müller Matrix Polarimetry for use in Intraoperative Diagnostics (ID) (Prof. D. Candinas, CHF 210,000)
  • SF Board grant: Towards reducing infections after healthcare-associated interventions (Prof. G. Beldi, CHF 750,000)
  • Innosuisse – Suisse Innovation Agency: Caldre: Cholestasis and liver disease resolved (Dr. F. Baier/Prof. D. Keogh-Stroka, CHF 517,000)
  • SNSF Starting Grant: Macrophage Aggregation Control against Scarring (MACScar) (Prof. J. Zindel, CHF 1,790,000)
  • SNSF: Development of functional secretory IgA responses (Prof. A. Macpherson, CHF 1,100,000)
  • Bridge – Discovery (Prof. A. Macpherson, CHF 1,561,346)
  • SNSF Sinergia: Understanding the role of immunometabolic imprinting for sustainable weight loss (Prof. Z. Al Nabhani CHF 1,261,612)
  • SNSF: Role of endothelial CCL22-CCR4 axis due to increased stiffness in chronic liver disease (Prof. A Berzigotti, CHF 763,255)
  • Gilead: SPEARHEAD (Screening imPlEmentation and linkage to cARe inHEpAtitis Delta). (Prof. N. Semmo, Prof. A. Kremer, USZ, CHF 200,000)
  • SNF ERA-NET + EJP Grant: The link between GUT microbiota and MOOD disorders under scrutinY from humans to mice: spotlight on depression: (Prof. Yilmaz, CHF 286,000)
  • Protected Research Time für klinisch tätige Nachwuchsforschende (PRT Grant): Epigenetic Programming of the Intestinal Epithelium by High-Fat-Diet and Microbiota: Implications for Barrier Function (Dr. Jaqueline Wyss)
  • American Crohn’s Colitis Foundation: Impact of early life environmental exposures on adult colitis development (Prof. Z. Al Nabhani, $ 390,000)
  • Kenneth Rainin Foundation (USA): Consequences of early life host-microbial mutualism on inflammatory bowel diseases (Prof. Z. Al Nabhani, $ 150,000, second year)
  • SNSF- JSPS: Enteral oxygenation to rewire mucosal immunity and microbial dynamics (Prof. Z. Al Nabhani, CHF 300,000)
  • Synapsis Foundation: Unravelling the role of pro-inflammatory memory in Alzheimer's disease development (Prof. Z. Al Nabhani, CHF 300,000)

Highlights 2025

“Atlas” of mouse microbiome strengthens reproducibility of animal testing

Yilmaz et al., Cell Host Microbe. 2025

Diet shapes host physiology both directly and indirectly by altering the composition of the intestinal microbiota.

Dietary habits affect intestinal antibody production independently of the microbiota

We demonstrated that a typical Western-style diet, high in fat and carbohydrates but low in fiber, plant-derived components, and microbial ligands such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), profoundly impairs intestinal antibody responses. Gnotobiotic mice on this diet showed reduced IgA production in gut-associated lymphoid tissues and lower luminal IgA levels. Using high-throughput sequencing, we further revealed that diets rich in microbial ligands promote not only higher IgA production but also greater antibody diversity, a hallmark of intestinal immune fitness. Importantly, these effects were most pronounced during early life, leading to lasting antibody diversity, and occurred even in germ-free mice, indicating that early nutrition can shape gut immunity independently of microbial colonization.

Mooser et al., Immunity. 2025

Prof. Annalisa Berzigotti

Pierre-Benhamou Clinical State of the Art lecture at the 2025 EASL Congress

At the EASL Congress 2025 held in Amsterdam, Annalisa Berzigotti delivered the prestigious Pierre-Benhamou Clinical State-of-the-Art Lecture. This invited lecture acknowledges outstanding contributions to clinical hepatology and showcased state-of-the-art advances in non-invasive diagnostic tests for chronic liver disease.

Carvedilol reduces portal hypertension by targeting sinusoidal

Non-selective beta-blockers are the cornerstone of treatment of portal hypertension. Carvedilol shows a higher efficacy as compared to older drugs such as propranolol, but its intrahepatic mechanisms of action are poorly understood. Using an in vivo and in vitro experimental approach we have now shown that Carvedilol improves hepatic endothelial function through increased nitric oxide bioavailability and reduced oxidative stress, leading to lower hepatic vascular tone and deactivation of hepatic stellate cells. This leads to a reduction in hepatic fibrosis, and explains at least in part the better outcomes of patients on Carvedilol beyond improvement of portal pressure.

Nulan et al., JHEP reports. 2025