CONTRIBUTION. The Heart-Lung Foundation has granted SEK 50 million to researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, of which SEK 40 million goes to researchers at the Institute of Medicine. The projects granted will, among other things, provide new knowledge about how complications after heart surgery can be reduced, how sex hormones affect cardiovascular diseases and how COPD and asthma can be diagnosed earlier. Anna-Carin Olin is a consultant and adjunct professor of…
Ruth Palmer named Cancer Researcher of the Year 2019 – see her attendance during the gala in TV4
APPOINTMENT. The other night, during the live TV-gala ‘Together Against Cancer’ in TV4, Ruth Plmers was appointed Cancer Researcher of the Year by the Cancer Foundation’s research board. Ruth Palmer, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at Sahlgrenska Academy aims to find new treatment methods for neuroblastoma, a cancer that primarily affects children. The TV-gala Tillsammans mot cancer (‘Together Against Cancer’) was broadcasted live nationwide on Monday, January 7, 2019. You…
Antibiotic resistance in the environment linked to fecal pollution
NEW STUDY. A new study indicates that fecal pollution can largely explain the increase in resistant bacteria often found in human-impacted environments. Increased levels of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment may have different causes. It could be a consequence of on-site selection from antibiotic residues in the environment, hence promoting the evolution of new forms of resistance. Alternatively, it is simply due contamination by fecal bacteria that often tend…
New insight into the process of generation of new neurons in the adult brain
The brain is largely divided between domains of astrocytes, cells profoundly affecting regeneration and functional recovery after stroke or neurotrauma (Milos Pekny and Marcela Pekna, Physiological Reviews, 2014). The picture above shows astrocytes in red and green, the areas where individual astrocytes interconnect are yellow. A single human astrocyte can access as many as millions of neuronal synapses. Astrocytes emerge as a treatment target in stroke, neurotrauma or neurodegenerative diseases.…
Agneta Holmäng: Let us celebrate our successes this Christmas!
SEASON’S GREETINGS. Our dean, Agenta Holmäng, wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, with the hope for 2019 to be as successful as the past year. I am proud of our supportive academic atmosphere here at Sahlgrenska Academy. We are curious and interested of what others work with, are open for new collaborations and celebrate the successes of our colleagues, qualities visitors often comment on. This attitude makes our work so much…
Immunotherapy saves many lives – but could help even more people
RESEARCH. This year’s Nobel Laureates in Medicine have revolutionized the treatment of cancer with immunotherapy, which means that one out of five patients with metastatic skin cancer can be cured. But half of the patients with metastatic malignant melanoma are not helped by the new treatment. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Cancer Center and on the Melanoma Team at Sahlgrenska University Hospital are working together in an attempt to understand why…
Dieticians invite you to Lucia celebration
Welcome to lucia celebrations with the dietician program!
Henrik Sjövall: Another type of aid
COMMENTARY. An initiative is underway in Nepal to start a completely new type of university, one in which the liberal arts will strengthen the core values of students and provide incentives for them to stay in rural areas of Nepal, contributing to the needs of society when their education is completed. Henrik Sjövall reports from the workshop which served as the starting point for the project. I was invited…
New knowledge of pubertal growth
NEW THESIS. In monitoring and prediction of children’s growth, the spurt in puberty is often considered too variable to be predictable. However, new findings and methods enable a better picture of how children and adolescents grow, especially during puberty. “Growth reflects health and can be a diagnostic indicator, capable of revealing both diseases and psychosocial problems. Measuring and monitoring height and weight are therefore among the most important tasks for…
Four biomedical researchers receive grants from Formas
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…
Canvas will be introduced next fall, but the physiotherapists are already testing it
EDUCATION. Next fall Canvas will be broadly introduced at Sahlgrenska Academy. The Physiotherapy Program, which has already begun using the new learning platform, gives it a thumbs up. The introduction of Canvas at Sahlgrenska Academy has been discussed and coordinated by a wide-ranging working committee including representatives of all the degree programs, where students are also involved. The working committee presented proposals for introducing the new learning platform at the…
A total of SEK 100 million to University of Gothenburg for cancer research
GRANTS. The Swedish Cancer Society is awarding nearly SEK 630 million for cancer research during the next year. Of this amount, nearly SEK 100 million is going to the University of Gothenburg. Neurosurgeon Asgeir Jakola is experimenting with a new form of treatment for glioblastoma, an aggressive malignant brain tumor. He is one of the researchers participating in the initiative. Jonas Nilsson, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Sciences,…
Joakim Larsson added to list of world’s most highly cited researchers
CITATIONS. Four researchers from Sahlgrenska Academy are included in the 2018 list of the world’s most highly cited researchers. Kaj Blennow, Karl Swedberg and Henrik Zetterberg were all on the list last year, and this year they are also joined by Joakim Larsson. This is the fifth year in a row that Clarivate Analytics, the analytical firm that owns the Web of Science, is publishing its list of the world’s…
Information from Akademiska Hus about Naturvetenskap Life
CONSTRUCTION. Below is information related to the Naturvetenskap Life construction project. Information from ÅF-Infrastructure, which is responsible equipment issues: Meetings are primarily planned with the various departments before the inspection and muffling of equipment. The inspection has begun, and we have installed vibration meters at Experimental Biomedicine (EBM). Information from Skanska: Week 48 All week, transport of rock materials continues for road construction from the parking area below EBM up…
Frances H. Arnold, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2018, gives a lecture in Gothenburg
NOBEL LECTURE. Frances H. Arnold, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2018, will give a lecture at Chalmers on December 14, at 14:00. Registration is required. In 1993, Frances H. Arnold conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, which are proteins that catalyse chemical reactions. Since then, she has refined the methods that are now routinely used to develop new catalysts. The uses of Frances Arnold’s enzymes include more environmentally friendly manufacturing of chemical…
Nobel laureate Randy W. Schekman gives a lecture in Gothenburg – registration required
NOBEL LAUREATE LECTURE – The lecture is given in English. WHEN: December 8, 2018, 10.00 WHERE: University of Gothenburg, Medicinaregatan 20A, Wallenbergsalen Registration is required – click here
Good help in primary care for children with obesity
NEW STUDY. Children treated for obesity in primary or outpatient care have a relatively good chance of fending off weight problems over the next few years as well, a study published in Acta Paediatrica shows. “There’s an attitude that obesity is so terribly difficult to get rid of that you have to send the child to a specialist clinic, sometimes many tens of kilometers away. But the skills are often…
Jan Holmgren awarded world’s biggest global health award
year’s recipients of Prince Mahidol’s Award in Public Health. He is receiving the award for leading the development of the world’s first effective drinkable cholera vaccine and also for transferring the technology, so the vaccine can be produced on location in developing countries. Along with this year’s runner-up, American Professor John Clemens, he has also shown that the cholera vaccine has the potential to eradicate cholera in developing countries. “This…
Four certified for coaching within SA PhD Coach Network
CAREER PATHS. The SA PhD Coach Network initiative has turned out well at Sahlgrenska Academy. The first four young researchers have now been certified for coaching, and in the spring the network’s third round of training will begin. The SA PhD Coach Network, or SA-CONE, has two purposes: for young researchers to develop their leadership skills and for PhD students to receive support in their professional development. A total of…
One step closer to clinical trials regarding ovarian cancer with VR:s Proof of Concept
GRANTS. Sture Lindegren, an associate professor at the Department of Radiation Physics, is receiving almost SEK 1 million from the Swedish Research Council’s Proof of Concept call for proposals. The funds from SRC will enable him and his colleagues to proceed with a clinical trial of a new treatment for ovarian cancer. This involves establishing a platform to produce drugs based on the radioactive element Astatine-211 (At-211). The radiopharmaceuticals being…