Research Group Antonia Gabriel, PhD

Evax is a spin-off company of the University of Zurich, transferring human standards of care into horses. Our research team develops new and innovative species-specific therapeutics to treat chronic diseases, allergies and respiratory diseases. The aim of Evax is to transfer human standards of care to horses at an affordable price. Our vision is to address diseases in horses with modern research to contribute to the growing knowledge in the pharmaceutical industry. Evax lead candidate is first-in-class therapeutic equine vaccines for the treatment equine allergies.

Our main research area is translating immunology of chronic diseases or hyperreactivities such as allergies into new cutting-edge therapeutic vaccines. Our virus-like particle (VLP)-based therapeutic vaccines target key molecules involved in disease pathology and, in contrast to other biologicals, are an inexpensive and effective way of treating chronic disorders. Thus, advanced technology can become available even to our companion animals. One of our main interests are skin-related problems in horses. The most common chronic allergic dermatitis in horses is caused by insect bites. Insect-bite hypersensitivity (IBH)-affected horses suffer from pruritic skin lesions, caused by type-I/type-IVb allergic reactions accompanied by prominent eosinophilic infiltration into the skin. We study the interplay of underlying allergic reactions in early and chronic stages of disease. IBH in horses shares common features with human asthma. Thus, we believe understanding the molecular mechanisms in such allergic reactions can be translated to other species including humans allowing to improving treatment modalities in the future.

Senior group members

• Fabia Canonica, PhD
• Fadi Jebbawi, PhD