GRANTS. Four researchers, including Carl-Fredrik Flach and Sara Lindén, received grants from the Formas call for proposals. Their projects are about the risk of antibiotic resistance in wastewater and the protective mucus layer of fish. At Sahlgrenska Academy Joakim Larsson and Heléne Norder also received grants from the call for proposals.
Formas (the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning) funds research for ecologically, economically and socially sustainable development. In the latest call, six researchers at the University of Gothenburg received grants, four of which were associated with the Institute of Biomedicine at Sahlgrenska Academy.
Antibiotic resistance in wastewater environments
Carl-Fredrik Flach is an associate professor of medical microbiology and a researcher at the multidisciplinary Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research (CARe). He has received nearly SEK 3 million for his project, which involves studying wastewater environments, where there may be a risk that antibiotic-resistant bacteria will emerge through the transfer of genetic material among bacteria.
“In the project we will study how complex mixtures of chemicals, which include antibiotics and other antibacterial substances found in various wastewater environments, influence a transfer of resistance,” says Flach.
Through several international partners, Flach and his colleagues have the opportunity to study wastewater samples from countries where the use of antibiotics, and the resulting risk profile, may differ radically from Sweden.
“We believe we will contribute knowledge that can guide decisions about how various wastewaters should be managed, given the risk of the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria,” says Flach.
An additional project grant from Formas is going to researchers within CARe. Center Director Joakim Larsson, a professor of environmental pharmacology at the Institute of Biomedicine, also has received nearly SEK 3 million for his project, which deals with the environmental significance of antibiotic resistance for selection and evolution.
Fish defenses against infection
Professor Sara Lindén, who also works at the Institute of Biomedicine, has also received nearly SEK 3 million for a project in veterinary medicine, which she is carrying out in collaboration with colleagues at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences. In the project they will investigate how the mucus covering the surface of fish and how their gastrointestinal tract protects the fish against infection. By studying fish’s own defenses against infections, they hope to contribute to more sustainable fish farming, both from an ethical and environmental perspective, by searching for ways to stimulate the fish’s own defenses against infections. At the beginning of the project, the researchers will develop a robust experimental model for analyzing mucus secretion, production, regulation and composition in defenses against infectious organisms.
“Then we will identify how the mucus layer in the fish changes when defending against bacterial infection and investigate how this is regulated in fish,” Sara Lindén says. “In mammals several signaling pathways have been described, and often several signaling pathways interact during infection. Most likely this system is structured in a similar way in fish.”
The new knowledge about how the mucus layer is regulated in fish will then be used to develop methods to improve the mucous membrane’s defenses against infection.
“It will be exciting to work with live fish along with our skilled and friendly partners, Kristina Sundell and Henrik Sundh. One nice thing about working with veterinary medicine is that promising treatments that are discovered can be tested directly in the animal species you are working on, unlike when we are working on human medical issues, where the road to implementation is very long and expensive,” says Lindén.
Heléne Norder, who has long been an adjunct professor at the Institute of Biomedicine, has also received SEK 2.7 million from Formas. Her project involves identifying known and new pathogens in untreated and treated water that is used as drinking water and for recreation. The project will compare how effectively different techniques can eliminate viruses in water.
THE ENTIRE LIST – RESEARCHERS IN GOTHENBURG WHO HAVE RECEIVED GRANTS FROM FORMAS
Jonathan Havenhand
Department of Marine Sciences
Does intraspecies diversity increase the capacity of sea grass meadows to recover from climate changes and fluctuations?
SEK 2,999,499
Joakim Larsson
Institute of Biomedicine
The environmental significance of antibiotic resistance for selection and evolution
SEK 2,997,000
Carl Fredrik Flach
Institute of Biomedicine
The spread of plasmids with antibiotic resistance in wastewater
SEK 2,992,986
Heléne Norder
Institute of Biomedicine
Identifying known and new pathogens in untreated and treated water that is used as drinking water and for recreation – Comparing effectiveness of techniques for eliminating viruses in water
SEK 2,768,562
Joacim Sturve
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Transport of nanoparticles in a microcosm system
SEK 2,999,931
Sara Lindén
Institute of Biomedicine
Regulation of fish mucus to prevent infectious diseases
SEK 2,994,009
Malte Hermansson
Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology
Metagenomic and transcription analyses of partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) processes for nitrogen removal from wastewater
SEK 2,998,656
