The experimental research group in the Department of Intensive Care Medicine investigates the clinical course of diseases and how this can be improved by treatment. Important achievements in the last 20 years have been the development of models for sepsis and cardiac arrest. Other available models are for abdominal sepsis (CASP = colon ascendens stent peritonitis, CLP = cecal ligation and puncture) and subarachnoid haemorrhage.

This research incorporates animal experiments, performed in the Experimental Surgical Facility (ESF) of the Department for Biomedical Research (DBMR) of the University of Bern. Alternatives are always used if this is possible. The staff members who take part in these experiments have been professionally trained. They are obliged to perform exemplary animal husbandry and to adhere to the 3R principles: Replace, Reduce, Refine.

The experiments are carefully assessed by the committee for experiments on animals of the canton of Bern and are approved after a strict and balanced consideration of legally protected values (animal protection versus medical protection).