Dr. Ziad Al Nabhani

Principal Investigator

BHH

MEM G809

Address

Murtenstrasse 35

ZIP code and town

CH-3010 Bern

Contact

Tel. +41 31 632 49 73
ziad.alnabhaniextra@dbmr.unibe.ch

Research Interests

  • Mucosal immunology of chronic inflammatory diseases
  • Weaning and gut microbiota establishment
  • Nutrition and long-term immunity

Ziad Al Nabhani is a mucosal immunologist interested in studying the relationship between gut microbiota and the immune system and how its disruption leads to chronic inflammatory diseases. He did his PhD at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and obtained his doctorate in 2013 in Physiology & Physiopathology from the University of Paris Diderot, France. He showed how deficiency in intracellular innate immune sensor for the bacterial components such as Nod2, impact the gut microbiota composition and pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). He performed his first postdoctoral study in Microbiology at the National Institute of Agricultural Research (2013-2014) and he studied the gut microbiota composition as risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis in very preterm infants. At Pasteur Institute in Paris (2014-2020), he realized his second postdoc in Immunology Department and showed that the vast expansion of microbiota during weaning period induces vigorous immune reactivity in the intestine, termed the “weaning reaction”. Such weaning reaction occurs only at this time window, prevents the increased susceptibility to develop IBD and colorectal cancer in adulthood. Further, he demonstrated that intestinal pro-inflammatory feedback loop triggered in neonatal mice by excess calorie intake and microbiota induces a long-lasting pathological memory. In April 2020, he joined the Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR) and Bern Hospital University as Senior Scientist and he is setting up a research program focus on all aspects of weaning and long-term immunity. As recipient of the European Research Council starting grant (ERC-StG 2020), he promoted to Assistant Professor in September 2021 and head his group in the DBMR https://www.dbmr.unibe.ch/research/research_programs/al_nabhani_lab/index_eng.html.