ASSIGNMENT. Magnus Braide, Professor at the Department of Medical Chemistry and Cell Biology, is the new Deputy Head of the Institute of Biomedicine. He replaced predecessor, Claes Gustafsson, on September 1.
The assignment means that Magnus Braide will now be leaving his current assignment as Chairman of the Docentship Committee. Previously, he was the Associate Head of the Department for Education at the Institute and Chairman of the Institute’s Education Committee. As Deputy Head, he will continue to be responsible for the Institute’s education.
“Our institute has recently undergone a period where we handled teacher retirements and recruiting, and right now, the situation is stable. For a long time, we put a lot of energy into solving semi acute personnel issues; but, we want to transition to working more strategically, especially with respect to pedagogic development and the larger crop of students,” says Magnus Braide.
Previous teaching
The Institute is responsible for some 40 courses, particularly within the biomedical laboratory science program, medical program and pharmacy program. Work to improve educational quality is continuous. Previously, the institute introduced teacher days, where teachers regularly meet to discuss pedagogic development.
Magnus Braide will continue working with the courses he is responsible for. And as Deputy Head, he will, among other things, work to give younger colleagues, doctoral students and post-docs, greater opportunities to start teaching, early on,
“Research is often highly specialized and teaching forces you to broaden your knowledge, within your field. Teaching also provides practice in communication and presentation and can later be used as part of the qualifications for docentship,” he notes.
He is, now, looking forward to greater involvement in the internal and external work at the Institute. Participating in the dialog with the faculty and the other institutes will be a new experience for him,
“Conditions change and it involves making ourselves heard, so that the issues that are important to our institute become part of the discussions on the needs and requirements that exist within Sahlgrenska Academy,” says Magnus Braide.
Improved treatment of kidney failure
Fundamentally, Magnus Braide is a doctor; but, currently only works with patients through his research. As a professor of anatomy, he researches peritoneal membrane reactions during peritoneal dialysis (PD), which is a method for treating kidney failure. Research is both experimental and clinical, and occurs in collaboration with the PD Unit at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Currently, he is finishing a study where he and his colleagues are trying to show that a specific type of inflammation that they previously were able to show in animal trials, also occurs in humans.
“Our data indicates that the inflammation we saw in the animal trials appears to be similar to that in the patients. As a researcher, you are always happy when you are able to replicate mechanisms in humans that you discovered in animal experiments. It shows the meaningfulness of animal trials,” he says and continues,
“We can show that we can block the inflammation with drugs in the same that we did with animals, which can lead to improved treatment.”
The past Deputy Head, Claes Gustafsson, is now choosing to spend more time on his research. Soon, the deans will appoint a new chairman of the Docentship Committee.
