Aurel Perren

Contact:

aurel.perren@pathology.unibe.ch

Research interest: 

Neuroendocrine tumors, clinical and translational research

Aurel Perren studied medicine at the University Basel. During his pathology training in Zürich, his interest in neuroendocrine tumors was inspired by Professor Philippe Heitz and Professor Paul Komminoth. He was introduced to molecular pathology techniques during his thesis “Clonal analysis of pancreatic endocrine tumors“. After a research fellowship in the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the Charis Eng lab 1998, Aurel Perren returned to Zürich and led the laboratory of molecular endocrine pathology, responsible for the genetic testing of familial neuroendocrine tumor patients in Switzerland. The histopathological and genetic analysis of familial pNET as a human model for this disease also became his research focus.

In 2007, Aurel Perren was appointed Professor for tumor Pathology at the medical faculty of the Technische Universität München, Germany. Since August 2009 Aurel Perren is Director of the Institute of Pathology of the University Bern. With the foundation of the “translational research unit (TRU)” and of the “tissue bank Bern”, the molecular analysis of human tumor tissue is becoming a main research focus of the whole institute. Based on the knowledge of in-vivo studies in the division of Experimental Pathology of the Institute of Pathology the spectrum of research activities has also been broadened to include transgenic mice in the field of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Since the first Frascati meeting in 2005 Aurel Perren is regularly involved in European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) activities. He tries to explain the viewpoint of pathology and genetics in interdisciplinary discussions. Pathology is and will be an even more important piece of information deciding on patient treatment, and the experience of a pathologist is needed in discussions and tumor board conferences.