Prof. Hans H. Hirsch, MD MSc from the University of Basel in Switzerland (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0883-0423) will join IMB. Hans's primary interests is in how viruses affect human health. To this end, he and his collaborators have worked with clinical cohorts like the Swiss HIV Cohort Study or the Swiss Transplant Cohort study and introduced new diagnostic and basic science approaches. Hans has shared a long-standing interest in human polyomaviruses with Christine Hanssen Rinaldo (UNN/IKM), with numerous joint projects.
Together, they will host some from the Basel team here in Tromsø on August 29th, 2025 on the occasion of an informal mini-symposium. People from Basel and from UiT will present part of their work, and we look forward to good discussions. The aim is to get to know each other and the projects, thereby encouraging future collaborations.
The mini symposium is open to everybody and will be particularly interesting for those who are interested in cell biology, virology, immunology and infection. Would you also like to present your own data? Don't hesitate to get in touch with Christine at christine.rinaldo@unn.no.
Program
09:00
Welcome and Introduction
Christine Hanssen Rinaldo, Hans H. Hirsch
Lectures
09:10
An Introduction to Human Polyomaviruses
Christine Hanssen Rinaldo, Tromsø
09:30
BK Polyomavirus infection and death of kidney tubular epithelial cells
Stian Henriksen, Tromsø
10:00
BK Polyomavirus-induced mitochondrial cell stress and ferroptosis
Fabian H. Weissbach, Basel
10:30
Coffee break
11:00
Liver sinusoidal cells: The hidden players in phage therapy?
Anett Kristin Larsen, Tromsø
11:30
Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells eliminate betaherpesvirus from the blood stream –
and how this may be a double-edged sword
Karen Kristine Sørensen, Tromsø
12:00
Lunch break
13:00
Serotype-specific antibody predict new-onset BKPyV-DNAemia in kidney transplantation
Dorssa Akbari Bani, Basel
13:30
Off-Target Effects of Mycophenolic Acid on BK polyomavirus replication
Caroline A. Hillenbrand, Basel
14:00
Coffee break
14:30
How to build a mRNA T cell vaccine for BK polyomavirus
Anne Geng, Basel
15:00
JC Polyomavirus in patients living with HIV in Switzerland
Hans H. Hirsch, Basel
Existing talks are aiming at 20 min plus discussion.
Tentative outline - happy to accommodate more talks.