GRANTS. Twenty-four researchers at the University of Gothenburg have been awarded a total of SEK 91 million from the Swedish Research Council’s call for applications in medicine and health. Gothenburg-based researchers are receiving nine percent of the total pot from the Swedish Research Council and only one of the establishment grants, which means three percent of the total investment in young researchers is going to Gothenburg.
This year’s awards are less than the previous year.
“To be sure, we will examine this and conduct a closer analysis,” says Olle Larkö, Dean of Sahlgrenska Academy. “But at the same time, we shouldn’t make too much of it. The levels vary from year to year.”
Olle Larkö also emphasizes the importance of highlighting the Academy’s role models: researchers who have received large grants. “Clearly, we have some incredibly talented people and we can learn from them,” he says.
Research on suicide among the elderly
Margda Waern, a professor of psychiatry specialized on suicidology, has received the largest grant. Her research group, Sahlgrenska Suicide Studies, has received SEK 6.7 million for its research on suicide with a focus on the elderly. “It’s a neglected field of research from an international perspective. Societal attitudes might be a partial explanation. If you think it’s ‘normal’ for older people to be depressed and lose their enthusiasm for life, then there will be no demand for research on the phenomenon,” says Margda Waern.
With the funding from the Swedish Research Council, the group hopes to conduct new research that will dispel clichés about suicide among the elderly. “It’s important, given that the elderly comprise a growing age group with a higher risk for suicide than younger populations.” In the research project, Margda Waern and her colleagues will study various factors of life that contribute to developing depression and suicidal behavior at an advanced age. They will identify processes in the brain, such as reduced cognitive function and brain markers associated with depression and suicidal behavior, and conduct a study with patients to investigate whether assessment scales can improve care of elderly individuals who have attempted suicide.
The project is a multidisciplinary collaboration. “Suicide is not just a psychiatric phenomenon. In our research, we highlight the problem of suicide from different perspectives thanks to partnerships with people who have expertise in, for example, neurochemistry, genetics, psychology, geriatrics, public health and social sciences,” says Margda Waern.
Classic translational research
Ann Hellström, a professor of pediatric ophthalmology with a focus on growth factors, has received one of this year’s largest grants from the Swedish Research Council: SEK 6 million for her project to study potentially influenceable factors that contribute to morbidity in premature infants, such as deficiencies in nutrients and growth factors, impaired metabolism and infections. The project researchers will also study interventions designed to promote normal growth and development. “Discoveries and hypotheses originating in the clinic are tested in experimental studies; the results of these studies are mapped and then tested in clinical trials. You could probably call our work method classic translational research,” concludes Hellström.
Claes Ohlsson, a professor of hormonal regulation of bone growth and metabolism, has also received SEK 6 million for a translational research project. “We will identify new biomarkers for fractures and new drug targets with the goal of preventing new fractures.” The research is based on human genetic studies in unique patient populations followed by mechanistic studies. Of the thirty establishment grants awarded by the Swedish Research Council, one went to Gothenburg: Ulrika Islander, associate professor at the Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, has received SEK 6 million for her project on how estrogen inhibits arthritis and her work in defining the role of Th17 cells in this process.
Establishment grant to Ulrika Islander
Ulrika Islander, an associate professor in immunology, has received a large establishment grant from the Swedish Research Council totaling SEK 6 million in four years. “It is an enormous honor to receive this trust from the Swedish Research Council. It feels wonderful that they believe in my research and want to give me the chance to establish myself as a research director. This kind of grant gives me the opportunity to plan for the projects in the long term and recruit new employees to the group. I will soon be recruiting a new postdoc and, eventually, a biomedical technician who can be a more permanent employee in the group and ensure the group’s experimental expertise is retained over time,” comments Islander.
Her research aims to identify the immunological mechanisms involved with the protective effects of estrogen for rheumatoid arthritis and associated osteoporosis. Estrogen has a major influence on the immune system and there is a clear difference in the risks men and women face of developing certain autoimmune diseases. The influence of estrogen on the immune system is likely one of the contributing factors for this difference between the sexes. However, the specific mechanisms for how estrogen regulates cells in the immune system are unclear. “We have recently shown that estrogen treatment in experimental models of rheumatoid arthritis affects the ability of Th17 cells to exit the lymph nodes. A very important question for us now is to determine whether estrogen impacts the function of stromal cells in the lymph nodes, thymus and bone marrow, and also interactions between stromal cells and immune cells in these organs,” says Islander.
The complete list of University of Gothenburg researchers who received grants from the Swedish Research Council’s major call for applications in medicine and health for 2016:
Fredrik Bergh Thorén
The significance of unlicensed NK cells for immunotherapy of cancer
SEK 4,000,000
Tord Berglundh
Peri-implantitis – prevalence, pathogenesis and treatment
SEK 4,000,000
Johan Bylund
Neutrophil granulocytes in periodontal diseases – regulation of inflammation and bone resorption of serine proteases
SEK 2,100,000
Suzanne Dickson
How the brain and intestine can work together for reduced food intake
SEK 2,100,000
Kristina Eriksson
Genetic and immunological risk factors for herpes simplex type-2 meningitis
SEK 2,700,000
Eric Hanse
Cerebrospinal fluid as a mediator of physiological and pathological signaling effects
SEK 4,000,000
Ann Hellström
Molecular defense against retinopathy of prematurity: diagnostics, prevention and treatment
SEK 6,000,000
Jonas Hugosson
Screening for prostate cancer with PSA (G-1 study), and PSA and MRI (G-2 study), respectively.
SEK 6,000,000
Ulrika Islander
Estrogen inhibits arthritis: definition of the role of Th17 cells
SEK 6,000,000 (establishment grant)
Per-Anders Jansson
Studies of microvascular insulin resistance with a focus on new prevention and treatment strategies for type 2 diabetes
SEK 4,000,000
Tao Jin
Bacterial invasion of joints and biofilm formation on prosthetics – underlying molecular mechanisms and future treatments
SEK 2,800,000
Göran Landberg
Hypoxia-induced secretion and impact on progression of cancer stem cells in breast cancer
SEK 3,000,000
Jan Lötvall
Significance of extracellular vesicles in lung disease
SEK 4,000,000
Hanns-Ulrich Marschall
Activation of bile acid receptor FXR in human liver, bile, intestine and adipose tissue
SEK 3,000,000
Anna Martner
NOX2 inhibitors with acute myeloid leukemia
SEK 4,000,000
Mikael Nilsson
Mechanisms for tumor development and tumor progression in the thyroid
SEK 2,800,000
Jenny Nyström
New strategies for studies of the origin and development of glomerular renal disease
SEK 2,100,000
Claes Ohlsson
New specific biomarkers and drug targets for fractures
SEK 6,000,000
Elmir Omerovic
Stress-induced cardiomyopathy in Sweden. Epidemiology. Treatment and mechanisms
SEK 2,100,000
Matti Poutanen
Identification of new synthetic pathways for steroids in peripheral tissues – pathophysiological significance in breast and prostate cancer
SEK 4,000,000
Stefano Romeo
Lipidome fingerprint and recently discovered molecular mechanisms for non-alcohol-related liver diseases
SEK 4,000,000
Anna Rudin
Lymphocytes and fibroblast-like synoviocytes in the pathogenesis of early and established rheumatoid arthritis
SEK 2,100,000
Margda Waern
Determinants and outcome for depression and suicidal behavior among the elderly
SEK 6,694,628
Anna Winkvist
Nutrition and metabolomics: an approach to identify and confirm biomarkers for food intake
SEK 4,000,000
Note that only notification via your personal account in Prisma is a guarantee of an approved grant.
Read more about the grant decisions on the Swedish Research Council’s website: http://www.vr.se/forskningsfinansiering/bidragsbeslut/medicinochhalsa
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN AND MARGARETA GUSTAFSSON KUBISTA
PHOTOS: JOHAN WINGBORG, THOMAS JOHANSSON AND ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
