HEY THERE Carina Mallard, Professor of experimental perinatal brain injury research. You are one of two researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy who receives SEK two million from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. Your project deals with the immune system’s role in brain damage in newborns. What does this grant from the Foundation mean for this project?
“The grant is very important for us and means that we can hire a postdoc for two years, which will focus exactly on this project.”
You are working on molecular mechanisms and new targets for treatment, including a promising potential drugs that might prevent brain damage in babies. Where in the process are you currently with this potential drug?
“So far, we have mainly been studying this drug in various animal models. Now we will begin to explore how human cells from newborn babies, with or without brain damage, reacts to the drug. There is obviously still a long way to go before the research results a drug to prevent brain damage in babies, but this is an important bridge between mouse and human studies.”
What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of your research right now?
“The fact that we are starting to get a deeper understanding of how various cells of the immune system can affect the immature brain and to have the opportunity to examine more closely how our results from animal studies may be relevant in humans.”
Claes Ohlsson, Professor of hormonal regulation of bone metabolism and growth, also receives SEK two million from the foundation. His project is about a new mechanism for the regulation of body weight.
