The Theodor Kocher Institute is the coordinating institution of the Graduate Program on Cell Migration in Immunosurveillance, Inflammation, Tumorigenesis and Metastasis . The project started as an SNF-supported ProDoc program in October 2011.
As of 2013, the program was expanded and is now further supported by swissuniversities.
Cell migration is a fundamental process of life. In multicellular organisms, cell migration of individual cells or coordinated multicellular migration is required for gastrulation, morphogenesis and organogenesis and the entire homeostasis of multicellular organisms relies on processes of cell migration. Importantly, cell migration is a crucial process during inflammation and tissue repair and is an integral mechanism of many pathological processes such as chronic inflammatory diseases and tumor metastasis. Immune and tumor cell migration are therefore two topics of outmost biomedical significance.
Within the graduate program “Cell migration”, PhD students from both the immunology and the tumor cell biology field investigate mechanism that are involved in the regulation of cell migration. The training program combines the research focus and state-of the art equipment of the Theodor Kocher Institute for studying cell migration by means of live cell imaging technologies, the strong focus of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona on mouse and human immunology and the competence of research groups at the University of Fribourg on the recruitment of immune effector cells into tumors and tumor-host interactions. These complementary scientific expertise and the diverse research tools that are used in the different laboratories provide a unique framework for the training of young scientists. The PhD students in the “Cell migration” program are exposed to state-of-the art investigative methods and they acquire highly competitive scientific skills which will set the ground for a successful career.
