Akademiliv

Sahlgrenska akademins nyheter

På Svenska
University of Gothenburg Logotype
  • News
  • Notices
  • Calendar
  • Grants
  • About Akademiliv

ERC Consolidator Grant to diabetes researcher Anders Rosengren

17 December, 2019

GRANTS. Anders Rosengren, a diabetes researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, is one of the recipients of the ERC Consolidator Grant for his research on type 2 diabetes. The European Research Council is providing him with SEK 20 million for his research, which can eventually result in more patients receiving customized treatment for their unique type of diabetes.

As a researcher at University of Gothenburg, Anders Rosengren participates in the Wallenberg Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine (WCMTM) initiative, where he works on identifying new treatments for type 2 diabetes. In his work as a physician, he can become frustrated over not yet knowing how the medications available on the diabetes market are to be used in individual cases.

“All guidelines talk about how treatments should be adapted to the individual, but there is no systematic basis for this, so the process often can be likened to trial and error. I want to try to remedy that,” says Rosengren.

According to the World Health Organization, type 2 diabetes is the world’s fastest growing disease at present, and more than 350 million people suffer from it.

“Cancer research, for example, has come farther in terms of tailored treatments, but this is more difficult with cardiovascular disease and diabetes because they involve many interacting genes and lifestyle plays a central role,” says Rosengren.

Testing two medications

In a clinical study, the research team will test two types of medications already on the market. They will be tested on 200 people who belong to two different groups within type 2 diabetes. The groups are divided according to low and high insulin production and insulin sensitivity. The drugs, SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP1, have previously been shown to have cardiovascular benefits, and Rosengren’s research team wants to investigate if they work better for some patients than others.

“There is a surprisingly large variation of disease characteristics among patients, and the idea is to try to adapt the medicine to each person,” says Rosengren.

Even if researchers find no difference in the effect of medications between the groups, knowing that would also have practical importance.

“This is actually the first systematic test of personalized medicine for diabetes, which has been talked about for several years, even in official guidelines, but has never been put up for testing. It will be very exciting to conduct this study based on two groups of diabetic patients. If it works, it opens up entirely new possibilities for specific treatment, but even if we fail to find the right medication, it also provides an answer. In that case, we need even more precise medications in the future or completely different treatment strategies,” he says.

Passive beta cells

The fact that insulin production decreases over time is something that all patients with type 2 diabetes will eventually suffer, but it has been difficult to pinpoint the underlying mechanisms. Recently Anders Rosengren’s research team has identified two genes, SOX5 and ADRA2A, and altering expression of them makes the beta cells passive, halting or diminishing insulin production. Working with Patrik Rorsman, a research colleague at the Department of Metabolic Physiology at Sahlgrenska Academy, Rosengren has developed methods to look at how much insulin each cell releases.

“Based on this, we want to map the gene expression at the single cell level and find the genes driving beta cell failure,” says Rosengren.

Another objective of the research is finding a medication that can help solve the fundamental problem of failing beta cells.

Gothenburg resident for three years

Anders Rosengren came to Gothenburg from Lund three years ago and has since built up his research team in Gothenburg. He has already attracted several large research grants to his team, most recently from the European Research Council. He had already become interested in research during medical training, and he took his doctorate after completing his medical training. His dissertation dealt with basic cellular physiological mechanisms in type 2 diabetes, and after defending his thesis and doing his internship, he did postdoctoral research in Seattle, where he learned to work with bioinformatic methods. Being able to work translationally with ongoing research has become an important factor in obtaining results that are relevant to patients, he believes.

“Among other things, we can recruit patients and can choose among a base of 19,000 well-characterized type 2 diabetes patients for our first study, which starts in the spring of 2020 and will last for one year. We will be starting our studies at the single-cell level in parallel with this,” Rosengren explains.

From cell studies to clinical trials

The ERC Consolidator Grant is very valuable because it enables the team members to develop their research over a five-year period, providing stability for the future. Rosengren found preparing for the application both enjoyable and challenging.

“There is always a certain amount of gambling involved when applying for grants, because you do not know if the effort will pay off. At the same time, the application made me think through all the research in detail, which was valuable. When I learned that we received the grant, it of course felt really great that it worked out well,” says Rosengren.

With partners such as Anders Ståhlberg, Fredrik Bäckhed and Patrik Rorsman, Anders Rosengren and his research team will develop their measurement methods and research questions to try to bring the mystery of diabetes one step closer to an answer.

“It is very inspiring to engage in this type of research, where you can be involved all the way, from cell studies to clinical trials, and I hope that many people who suffer from the disease can benefit later. In any case, that is the ultimate goal,” says Rosengren.

TEXT: JESSIKA DEVERT / FREELANCE JOURNALIST
PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

By: Elin Lindström
Tagged With: diabetes, institutionen för neurovetenskap och fysiologi

Add your own events in the Akademiliv Calendar

Björn Burmann: Biological solution NMR: From structure and dynamics towards cell biology

  • Webinar 15:00-16:00, Thursday March 4.
  • Link to Zoom webinar.

Engineering Health, April 13-14.

Program and registration now available for Engineering Heath, held as a digital event April 13-14, 2021.

Forskarsnabben – full autumn program

During 20 minutes over Zoom, the Biomedical Library gives tips on tools and services that can facilitate your research everyday life. Start January 27.
English version further down in the document.

The novel coronavirus – University-wide information on the Staff Portal

Read up-tp-date information regarding how effects of the pandemic are handled at the university.

The entrance doors are locked

Due to new restrictions and decisions, all entrances are locked. For daytime access, use your GU card.

We are building at Medicinareberget

You will now find comprehensive information on construction projects that affect the Sahlgrenska Academy in the Staff Portal.

Lunch menus

Café & restaurang Anatomen

Gastronomen på SU

Lunchen.nu

Lyktan lunchservering

Lustgården på Änggårdsbacken

Café Anne Dahl

More news

University of Gothenburg comes top in Dentistry

4 March, 2021

RANKING. The University of Gothenburg ranks number 1 in the world in Dentistry in this year’s edition of QS World University Rankings by Subject, …  

The H70 studies to continue thanks to funding from the Kamprad Family Foundation

3 March, 2021

GRANTS. It has long been uncertain whether the H70 studies could continue with the next cohort from the 1950s. Through a grant of SEK 10 million …  

Agneta Holmäng: “OligoNova Hub will be a huge boost”

2 March, 2021

COLUMN. “It will soon have been one year since we began adapting how we work to reduce the spread of the virus in the community,” writes Dean Agne …  

A new hub for developing medicines of the future at the University of Gothenburg

1 March, 2021

CONDITIONS OF RESEARCH. In recent years, techniques have been developed to treat diseases with what are known as oligonucleotide drugs, based on …  

Socioeconomics and heart disease among people living near railways

25 February, 2021

GRANTS. Formas has awarded Natalia Caldeira Loss Vincens, a postdoc in occupational and environmental medicine, SEK 3 million in a project grant …  

They are the first doctoral students in medical engineering in collaboration with Chalmers

24 February, 2021

DOCTORAL STUDIES. So far, two doctoral students at Sahlgrenska Academy have begun their doctoral studies in medical engineering in collaboration …  

The large ALF grant round opens soon – get answers to your questions at the March 15 webinar

23 February, 2021

ALF GRANTS. You can submit your application for ALF grants until June 1. Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital are holding a …  

TBE patients’ lasting problems

23 February, 2021

DOCTORAL THESIS. Impaired memory, reduced motivation, and declining motor skills. These are some of the problems that may persist several years af …  

A fifth of adults in Sweden experience dental anxiety 

22 February, 2021

DOCTORAL THESIS. In Sweden, approximately one in five adults suffers from dental anxiety or phobia. The number has decreased over time, but many s …  

Meet language stylist Ola Bratt — new professor of clinical cancer epidemiology

19 February, 2021

PEOPLE. Ola Bratt is our new professor of clinical cancer epidemiology at the University of Gothenburg. Back in the early 1990s, as a newly …  

More news...

Sahlgrenska Academy

© University of Gothenburg
PO-Box 100, S-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Phone: 00 46 31 786 0000

About the website

Elin Lindström Claessen is editor for Akademiliv.
Please feel free to send your ideas and comments to akademiliv@gu.se

Sign up for the Akademiliv newsletter:

Send you tips to Akademiliv

Do you have a suggestion for news, grants, seminars or an education?
Send an email to Elin Lindström Claessen