GRANTS. A grant of SEK 33.9 million from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation will be shared by 24 researchers at the University of Gothenburg. The largest grant will go to Prof. Jan Borén – who will receive SEK 3.9 million over three years for his project on fatty liver disease and its clinical consequences. Prof. Annika Rosengren will also receive a large grant from the fund.
What does it mean for you to receive this grant, Jan Borén?
“Of course, it’s pleasing that our research is ranked so highly in national competition. It’s also valuable to have multiyear grants so we can conduct long-term projects.”
The research is based on clinical queries where the group then combines clinical studies and experimental model systems to identify mechanisms for disease development to create better understanding of how cardiovascular disease can be cured and prevented.
“The application focuses on fatty liver disease and its clinical consequences. Fatty liver disease is rapidly growing in the population and there are several studies that show that these patients often die from cardiovascular disease. We study how fatty liver disease gives rise to the lipid disorders that are a strong risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease. We also study how the lipids induce hardening of the arteries. So these studies are of major clinical relevance,” says Prof. Borén, who is especially fascinated by projects where they study lipid metabolism in well characterized patients:
“These projects build on the use of stable isotopes in patients, where we can build up models in close cooperation with specialists in mass spectrometry and advanced mathematics to better understand human lipid metabolism. These models are invaluable to understanding how dyslipidemia arises. These kinds of interdisciplinary projects are complex to conduct, but provide information that cannot be obtained any other way. Lipid metabolism varies widely between people and animal models, which is why we cannot obtain the equivalent information in other model systems.”
Stroke and heart failure on the rise among young people
Annika Rosengren, Professor of Medicine, will also receive a large grant from the fund. Comprising SEK 3.6 million, the grant is for her project on cardiovascular diseases among young people.
“It means a lot – receiving support from the Swedish Heart-Lung Fund means that the research has been deemed to be significant to obtaining new knowledge about people with cardiovascular diseases so that we can improve treatment and prevention,” says Prof. Rosengren.
Annika Rosengren’s project is about young people with congenital or acquired cardiovascular diseases. This is an area where knowledge is limited because most people afflicted by cardiovascular disease are older. Nonetheless, several thousand young people in Sweden are afflicted every year, and even more live with these diseases.
“While stroke and heart failure are decreasing among the elderly, we are now seeing an increase among younger individuals. This is also a global trend. We want to acquire new knowledge of risk factors, treatment and prognosis in young people in terms of heart failure, diabetes, cardiac infarction, stroke and congenital heart disease. We will use several Swedish registers and data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiologic study (PURE), a unique cohort from more than 20 countries worldwide,” says Prof. Rosengren.
What do you personally find to be most exciting in this project?
“Everything! Younger individuals are a minority among those with cardiovascular disease, making them difficult to study. Swedish registers offer a unique opportunity to map these individuals and study possible causes of the increase we see among young people. PURE is a worldwide cohort that will provide new knowledge about cardiovascular diseases in young people in low- and middle-income countries where we already see a strong increase and a health threat that will grow in the future.”
ENTIRE LIST
Göran Bergström
Identification of the vulnerable plaque and its association with epicardial adipose tissue.
SEK 2,400,000
Fredrik Bäckhed
Gut microbiota and cardiovascular disease: from patinet to metabolite
SEK 2,550,000
Ewa.Lena Bratt
Prevalence, predictors and outcomes of lost-to-follow-up in patients with congenital heart disease
SEK 300,000
Jan Borén
Lipotoxicity and Cardiovascular Disease
SEK 3,900,000
Johan Bylund
Balancing inflammation during M. tuberculosis infection – roles of secreted bacterial products and the host lectin galectin-3
SEK 900,000
Mikael Dellborg
Pregnancy among women with congenital heart disease
SEK 1,150,000
Inger Ekman
Evaluation of person-centered care at a distance in chronic heart failure and/or COPD, a randomized, controlled study.
SEK 900,000
Ludger Grote
Sleep as a window for the assessment of complications and prognosis in chronic respiratory disease
SEK 1,200,000
Jan Hedner
Carbonic anhydrase-related mechanisms in sleep apnea and chronic hypoventilation and cardiovascular complications in these conditions
SEK 1,800,000
Anders Jeppsson
Prevention and treatment of bleeding complications in cardiac patients
SEK 1,500,000
Maria Johansson
The Cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway and its role in atherosclerosis and ischemia-reperfusion injury
SEK 900,000
Malin Levin
Metabolic adaption in the ischemic heart
SEK 600,000
Stefan Lundin
Improved respirator treatment for acute pulmonary failure – significance to survival and symptom-burden after intensive care
SEK 600,000
Jan Lötvall
Exosomes in airway inflammation and their effects on bronchial epithelium
SEK 1,500,000
Lillemor Mattsson Hultén
Investigating lipoxygenase products as potential biomarkers of increased atherothrombotic events
SEK 1,200,000
Philip Moons
Effectiveness of a transition program to empower adolescents with chronic conditions in the transition to adulthood – the Stepstones project
SEK 900,000
Anna-Carin Olin
Particles in exhaled air – a method for detecting effects on small bronchi
SEK 1,500,000
Stefano Romeo
New gene targets to treat hyperlipidemia
SEK 1,500,000
Annika Rosengren
Cardiovascular diseases in younger individuals
SEK 3,600,000
Madeleine Rådinger
Immuno-miRs: master regulators of chronic airway inflammation?
SEK 800,000
Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson
Tissue-engineering of 3-D cardiovascular and lung scaffolds with human stem cells for clinical applications
SEK 1,000,000
Åsa Tivesten
Androgens, the immune system and cardiovascular disease in men and women
SEK 2,100,000
Kjell Torén
Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular disease – follow-up of SCAPIS and ADONIX studies
SEK 800,000
Kevin Jon Williams
Sulfatase-2: key mediator of residual atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk
SEK 300,000
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
