[FG] Ritz Nicole

Research Focus

Immunology & Infectious Diseases

Area of Research

• Novel and child-friendly diagnostics for childhood tuberculosis
• Cytokines and other biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of infections
• Epidemiology and outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infections in neonates, children and adolescents in Switzerland
• Health care delivered to migrant and asylumseeking children

Collaborations

National Collaborations

• The CITRUS study is a multicenter Swiss study collaborating with SwissPedNet study hubs in Aarau, Basel, Bellinzona, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, St.Gallen, Zurich
• The Swiss Pediatric Surveillance Study (SPSU) which is collecting data from all 29 Swiss pediatric hospitals.
• Dr. med. Petra Zimmermann, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
• Prof. Dr. med. Adrian Egli, Head of Microbiology and Research Group Leader Department of Biomedicine, University Basel
• Prof. Julia Vogt, Department of Computer Science, Medical Data Analysis, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

International Collaborations

• Pediatric Infectious Diseases Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain (A/Prof Begoña Santigao)
• Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology, Department, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom (A/Prof Marc Tebruegge)
• Department of general medicine and paediatric infectious diseases, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Australia (Prof. Nigel Curtis).
• Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States (A/Prof Matthew M. Ippolito)
• MRC Clinical Trials Unit at University College of London, Institute of Clinical Trials & Methodology; London United Kingdom (Dr. Anna Turkova, Dr. Jeannie Collins)

Ongoing Research Projects

• Prospective multicentre Swiss Study evaluating novel immunodiagnostic tests for childhood tuberculosis (CITRUS study) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03044509
• A Horizon 2020 funded project: Russian European Alliance for research among women, Children and adolescents impacted by HIV, TB and HCV (REACH) https://alliance-reach.eu/
• Evaluation of novel immunodiagnostic tests for tuberculosis infection and disease in an adult HIV cohort in Switzerland (NOVDA study). 
• A prospective national study on clinical aspects, diagnosis and treatment of childhood tuberculosis with the Swiss Paediatric Surveillance Unit (SPSU). https://www.spsu.ch/en/home