GRANT. Marit Stockfelt, a doctor at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and researcher at the Institute of Medicine, is the first to receive ALF funding to complete a period as an international postdoc. The whole family is currently in the UK.
Marit Stockfelt combines her ALF-funded research time at the Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research with work as a resident physician in Rheumatology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
SLE and pregnancy
Hälso-sam is implementing this initiative as a pilot project. This ALF funding makes it possible for a postdoctoral researcher working in a authorized healthcare profession to retain half the salary from Region Västra Götaland for up to 12 months in connection with an international postdoc stay. Applicants must also have received other salary funds or grants for their subsistence during their stay abroad.
Read more about ALF funding for international postdocs here (in Swedish):
ALF-medel för internationell postdok – ALF Västra Götaland (alfvastragotaland.se)
Riktlinjer ALF-medel för internationell postdoc.pdf (vgregion.se)
Her research focuses on the autoimmune disease SLE. The disease is a relatively rare autoimmune disease that often affects women of childbearing age. SLE often affects the skin and joints and can become very serious if the kidney or other internal organs are affected. Women also often have difficult pregnancies, and it is this aspect that Marit Stockfelt and her research colleagues Anna-Carin Lundell and Anna Rudin are interested in.
“Previous studies have shown that preeclampsia is more common among these women, and they are also more likely to have miscarriages. We observe that babies born to women with SLE are generally smaller in relation to the length of pregnancy, but we still do not know why this is the case,” says Marit Stockfelt.
Many patients with SLE have an upregulation of the signaling molecule interferon-alpha. The research group at the Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, which includes Marit, has conducted studies that indicate that this upregulation is also important for children being born with a lower birth weight.
Looking for opportunities
For the next half a year, Marit Stockfelt will be in the UK with her whole family; husband and three children. There she works an international postdoc in a group at the Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, part of the University of Leeds.
“For a long time, I have wanted to work as a postdoc abroad. I have been looking for a group at various conferences that I would like to work with. I became interested in the research conducted in a group managed by Edward Vital when he gave a presentation on the mechanisms that influence why some people get SLE while others do not develop the disease,” she says.
Inspiring environment
Edward Vital’s laboratory in Leeds is investigating the immunological mechanisms behind SLE in general. They have an extensive cohort of patients at increased risk of developing SLE that they follow over time. For Marit Stockfelt, the practical work currently consists predominantly of cell culture. She notes that the laboratory offers a very fun and inspiring research environment:
“It is a big lab with different groups working on related matters. There is a lot of activity and talk about research. Ideas generated during a conversation in the corridor are quickly implemented and tested. People are very helpful. When I ask about things, I often get a much longer answer than I had imagined.”
Seven months is a relatively short period for an international postdoc, but Marit expects the collaboration to continue when she returns to Gothenburg.
“I have been here for two months now, and I already feel my mind has been opened. I have a lot of new ideas about what I would like to do in our project when I get back home, and this is exactly what I was hoping for when I planned the trip,” says Marit Stockfelt.
ALF funding crucial
She has received several grants to complete her postdoc, but without the ALF funding it would have been difficult to make the trip happen, she says.
“I am very grateful and happy for all the support. We do not expect to be able to cover all our extra costs while we are here in the UK, so some expenses will have to come from our family’s ‘adventure fund’. For example, pre-school is very expensive here in the UK, costing around a thousand Swedish kronor a day,” says Marit Stockfelt.
Marit Stockfelt’s husband Leo, also a researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy, has also taken the opportunity to be on a research exchange with colleagues in Manchester.
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
