Eight researchers have received funding from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation for three-year research fellowships. Two of the eight work at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy.
The Heart-Lung Foundation’s funding will support research that is expected to generate new and improved treatments for all sufferers of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. A research fellowship funds the individual’s research, either full-time or half-time, for a three-year period.
“Research fellowships give researchers the peace of mind needed to concentrate fully on their work and the opportunity to achieve results that benefit patients. In addition to research fellowships, the Heart-Lung Foundation also awards finances various research projects, grants that pay researchers’ salaries for up to 12 months (forskarmånader), and research scholarships,” explains Staffan Josephson, Secretary General of the Heart-Lung Foundation.
Clinical Relevance and Practical Care
In total, the Heart-Lung Foundation will distribute SEK 205 million to Swedish research in 2013, an increase of SEK 23 million compared with 2012. The Foundation primarily supports research that has clinical relevance. This means that its results are to be transferred as quickly as possible for application in practical care contexts.
Malin Levin is an associate professor at the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg. She has received funding for her research into how the heart is affected by the lack of oxygen that occurs after a heart attack and how the heart’s ability to use stored lipids affects its function.
“My research has the potential to provide new insight and, in the long-term, also to lead to the creation of new drugs to fight cardiovascular disease,” Levin explains.
Elmir Omerovic is an associate professor at the Wallenberg Laboratory for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, and conducts research into stress-induced cardiomyopathy, also known as takotsubo or “broken heart syndrome”. This is a new syndrome similar to acute myocardial infarction that mostly affects women in connection with negative emotional stress.
“To be able to cure this syndrome, we need to know more about what mechanisms are involved. Based on the results of our preclinical research, we plan to conduct Sweden’s first randomized treatment study of patients with takotsubo,” says Omerovic.
FACTS: LARGEST FINANCIAL SUPPORTER
The Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation is the single largest financial supporter of independent cardiovascular and pulmonary research in Sweden. Each year, the Foundation finances approximately 250 ongoing research projects at hospitals and universities around the country. All research applications are carefully considered by the Foundation’s Research Council, which consists of 20 experts from throughout Sweden.
Among the other research fellowships granted based on the call for applications, two were awarded to Karolinska Institutet, one to Karolinska University Hospital, one to Lund University, and two to Skåne University Hospital.
Read more about the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation in English at: http://www.hjart-lungfonden.se/Om-Hjart-lungfonden/About-HLF/
