Malin Johansson, a researcher in mucous membrane biology, is set to receive about SEK 1 million from the largest US financer of biomedical research, the NIH (National Institutes of Health).
Here you can see Malin Johansson explain more about the application to the NIH (interview conducted in Swedish):
The allocation is approximately USD 75,000 per year over two years. Malin Johansson is to receive the research allocation through the research organization MIST (Mucosal, Immunology Study Team), a program funded by the NIH.
“Their call for applications suited my research profile very well and was specifically aimed at younger researchers,” explains Malin Johansson, who has already secured other funding from the Swedish Research Council:
“The allocation from the NIH is very pleasing, particularly as it is unusual for European researchers to be allowed to share in US research funds.”
The research project now being supported by the NIH follows two principle avenues: in part, Malin Johansson is to study a mouse model with an immune defect resulting in a poorly functioning mucous layer, which normally keeps bacteria away from the mucous membrane.
“We have seen that there is a group of patients with inflammatory intestinal disease who do not have an active inflammation but who also have a defective mucous layer just like the mouse model. We are now going to find out what causes the defect; with a probable cause being found in the environment where the mucous layer is secreted and formed.”
The other avenue of research deals with a protein that is expressed in the mucous layer, but whose function remains unknown to the researchers.
“This is basic research, which is the main focus of my interest,” says Malin Johansson. “I want to try and figure out what this molecule actually does.”
