INTERNATIONALIZATION. Xiaoyang Wang’s ongoing research collaboration with collaborator Professor Qinghe Xing of the Fudan University of China will receive SEK 700 000 in support from the Swedish Research Council. The project searches for genes significant in the development of cerebral palsy and other brain damage in premature infants.
The research studies how genetics and epigenetics (changes in gene expression) contribute to cerebral palsy, with a focus on the inflammatory and immunological response. Researchers also study the interplay that immunity and inflammation have on perinatal brain damage and the development of cerebral palsy.
Qinghe Xing is a leading researcher in molecular genetics at the Institute of Biomedical Science, Fudan University in Shanghai. The goal of the research collaboration is to better be able to predict which children risk this neurological handicap and develop earlier treatments.
Together, the researchers work with genetic screening of premature infants with brain damage and cerebral palsy. The research group in Gothenburg focuses on the experimental part of the project, where they test target genes in animal models prior to later clinical trials.
“We have worked with this for a couple of years and have already found several target genes. But as everyone knows, the process from the experimental stage to the clinical use of treatment is long, and we expect to need a few more years before we reach the possibility of clinical treatment,” says Xiaoyang Wang, Associate Professor at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology.
This Swedish-Chinese research collaboration has been underway for several years and has already resulted in a number of joint publications.
