From Cell to Society 2017 by Karolinska Institutet

From Cell to Society

2017

KIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEW PROFESSORS ON THEIR RESEARCH MEET THE PRIZEWINNERS

From Cell to Society

2017

Contents FOREWORD Ole Petter Ottersen Vice-Chancellor

PROFESSORS Harri Alenius Professor of Molecular Toxicology

Lennart Blomqvist Professor of Medical Radiology specialising in Oncology

Magnus Bäck Professor of Cardiology

Anca Catrina Professor of Rheumatology

Angel Cedazo-Minguez Professor of Molecular Neurogeriatrics

Emily Holmes Professor of Psychology

Helle Kieler Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology

Ingrid Kockum Professor of Genetic Epidemiology specialising in multiple sclerosis

Stephan Mielke Professor of Haematology and Cell Therapy

Martin Neovius Professor of Clinical Epidemiology

Magnus Nilsson Professor of Surgery

Thomas Nyström Professor of Medicine specialising in Diabetology 17 Richard Rosenquist Brandell Professor of Clinical Genetics

Gunnar Schulte Professor of Receptor Pharmacology

Jan Zedenius Professor of Surgery specialising in Endocrine Surgery

Johan Ärnlöv Professor of Family Medicine

ADJUNCT PROFESSORS Olof Akre

Ingrid Dahlman

Robert Hahn

Clara Hellner

Maria Kugelberg

Peter Lindgren

Ole Mogensen

Liselotte Schäfer Elinder

Leif Stenke

Anders Svenningsson

Elisabet Svenungsson

VISITING PROFESSORS Ingrid Agartz

Mauro D’Amato

Brian D’Onofrio

Miguel Hernán

Reinhilde Jacobs

Kirsi Jahnukainen

Eija Kalso

Seishi Ogawa

Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir

Oliver Soehnlein

FOREIGN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR

PRIZES AND AWARDS The Grand Silver Medal

The Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize

The Eric K. Fernström Prize

The Sven & Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize

Karolinska Institutet’s Pedagogical Prize

The Håkan Mogren Prize

The Malin & Lennart Philipson Prize

The Dr Axel Hirsch Prize

Lennart Nilsson Award

It is with pride and joy that I congratulate our new professors on reaching the highest academic position at Karolinska Institutet. You are individuals of excellent scientific and pedagogic merit, with great potential as leaders, and with innovative minds and intellectual courage. You will take our university to new heights. Karolinska Institutet is a leading medical university and Scandinaviaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest centre for academic education and research in the medical field, and as such we naturally take an active part in tackling the enormous challenges facing healthcare. Some of these are familiar to us. It is very likely that we will be challenged by hitherto unknown infectious diseases that require new insights and drugs other than those currently available. We also know that the population is getting older, a demographic shift that will put considerable strain on our healthcare services and require that we intensify our research into ageing and ageing-related diseases. You are the people who will be taking on these and other challenges in medical science. Together with the other 370 professors working at our university, you possess unique competence in medical research that is as broad as it is pioneering. Karolinska Institutet operates at the heart of the community and engages in dynamic interactions of mutual benefit to all those involved. The public and private sectors enable us to broaden our competence through the recruitment of adjunct professors. This year, we are also pleased to welcome many visiting professors, as they bring valuable experiences and perspectives from other universities in Sweden and elsewhere. In this, the twenty-second issue of From Cell to Society, we present all our new professors, adjunct professors, visiting professors and foreign adjunct professors, as well as people who have been awarded prizes for their services to Karolinska Institutet and medical science. Our special jubilee medal, the Grand Silver Medal, established to commemorate KIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bicentenary in 2010, is awarded for outstanding contributions to Karolinska Institutet. What unites every professor, prizewinner and anyone else involved in medical science is that we are all, regardless of discipline, striving for the same goal: the improvement of human lives and health. I wish you all the best in your new assignments.

Stockholm, October 2017

Ole Petter Ottersen Vice-Chancellor Karolinska Institutet

Photo: Erik Cronberg.

Foreword

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR S

PROFESSORS

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Curious about the interaction between the immune system and microbiota When our immune system reacts to something in our environment, both our own bacterial flora as well as environmental microbiota play an important role. Harri Alenius is studying this interaction between the immune system and different microbiota – systems of microorganisms.

Harri Alenius is investigating at how substances and microorganisms in the environment affect people’s immune system and health. He is particularly interested in how the ecosystem of microorganisms, so-called microbiota, in the environment and people interact with each other, and how they affect the immune system. “To understand how bacterial flora on our skin, for example, functions and interacts with the environment, we need to study the entire system, not just individual microbial species. Now, we have the technology that allows us to do this,” he says. Alenius’ research is based in part on human cohorts with informative contrasts. “For example, we have looked at people in Finnish or Russian Karelia. Geographically they are neighbours, but the difference in living standards is very large. This enables us to study how different bacterial flora affect the incidence of allergies, for example.” Alenius doesn’t want just to identify statistical relationships,

but he wants to go further and investigate the underlying mechanisms. His research therefore combines human cohorts and clinical studies with experiments on cell lines and animal models. Moreover, as Vice-Coordinator for the EU project Nanosolutions, Harri Alenius has directed much of his research at health risks caused by nanoparticles. “In Nanosolutions we have investigated which properties of nanoparticles determine how harmful they are to health. Being able to make these types of predictions before the introduction of new materials will become increasingly important. We have shown that this system works on a small scale.”

Harri Alenius Professor of Molecular Toxicology at the Institute of Environmental Medicine Harri Alenius was born in 1966 in Tammerfors, Finland, and studied Cellular and Molecular Biology at Jyväskylä University, graduating in 1995. He was awarded his PhD by Tammerfors University in 1997. From 1990–1996 he conducted research at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and from 1996–2016 at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, where he was appointed Professor in 2005.

Alenius was a postdoc at Harvard Medical School from 1998–2000 and has been a guest or visiting professor at several universities, including Zhejiang University in China in 2015. Since 2016 he has led a research group at Helsingfors University. On 1 August 2016, Harri Alenius was appointed Professor of Molecular Toxicology at Karolinska institutet.

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Developing more detailed imaging to enable better treatment selection for cancer patients Lennart Blomqvist researches cancer imaging. His thesis on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of rectal cancer has contributed to the widespread use of the technique that enables better treatment selection and outcome for these patients. He has also helped to develop a method for the measurement of segmental liver function using MRI. With a better understanding of tumour spread, radiotherapy can be administered with higher precision and surgeons can operate more confidently. Lennart Blomqvist’s research concerns how MRI can help. In his doctoral thesis, he showed how MRI can be used for evaluation of rectal cancer prior to surgery. The method has since then been introduced in Sweden and many other countries, which, in combination with new therapies, has helped to reduce tumour recurrence and improve the quality of life for these patients. “The aim of much of our research is to improve imaging and the anatomical understanding as detailed as possible to guide oncologists and surgeons,” Lennart Blomqvist says. “MRI enables us to pick out details that can’t be seen by using other imaging techniques.” Another area of application for MRI in cancer is evaluating how patients respond to therapies. This line of inquiry has, over the years, become an increasingly important part of Lennart Blomqvist’s research.

“We are in a time when molecular imaging really is going from pure research to the clinic,” he says. “The more precise and early we can determine the efficacy of different treatments, the more able we’ll be to advise on the combinations of treatments that a particular patient needs.” Professor Blomqvist also researches possible areas of application for a new hybrid technique using simultaneous PET and MRI. He has also had a multidisciplinary group that has developed a method for assessing liver function with MRI – a field of research that then has attracted many other groups.

Lennart Blomqvist Professor of Medical Radiology specialising in Oncology at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery Lennart Blomqvist was born in Stockholm in 1960. After studying medicine at KI, he worked in the field of radiology at Karolinska Hospital – from 1992 as specialist in diagnostic radiology. Lennart Blomqvist took his PhD at KI in 1997, was made Associate Professor in 2002 and Adjunct Professor in 2008. He was made Visiting Professor at Umeå University in 2015 and in July

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2016 was appointed Head of R&D for Diagnostic Imaging and Physiology unit at Karolinska University Hospital. Lennart Blomqvist was appointed Professor of Medical Radiology specialising in Oncology at Karolinska Institutet in combination with the position of consultant at Karolinska University Hospital on 1 April 2016.

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Combining clinical and molecular research for better treatment of cardiovascular disease Atherosclerosis and valvular heart disease are common causes of heart conditions. Magnus Bäck is researching the molecular mechanisms which cause atherosclerosis and valvular heart disease, and how they can be turned to clinical benefit. Magnus Bäck’s research focuses on how ischemic heart disease and valvular heart disease occur and how knowledge of the disease mechanisms can be used in a clinical setting. The research in his group is translational and includes experimental trials, studies on patient samples and epidemiological cohorts along with clinical studies. “We are combining clinical know-how of cardiovascular disease with knowledge of the disease at a molecular level,” Magnus Bäck explains. “The aim is to bridge the gap between experimental vascular biology and clinical cardiology. I’m a cardiologist and meet these patients in my clinical activities on a regular basis.” A key component of Bäck’s research is to understand how lipid mediators – a group of substances which the body creates from fatty acids – are involved in atherosclerosis and valvular heart disease. “Both atherosclerosis and valvular heart disease are chronic inflammation processes, and we have made significant discoveries in the role that various lipid mediators play in this inflamma-

tion,” Magnus Bäck says. “There are lipid mediators which create inflammation, and those which prevent it.” His hope is that in the long term, based on these discoveries, the group can create new treatments or other clinical benefits. “Improved treatments is our primary goal, but we also want to contribute to new methods for diagnostics and prognosis, and therefore conduct research into potential markers,” he says. Bäck’s group conducts its research in its own studies, in internal collaboration at KI – not least with epidemiologists – as well as in international networks.

Magnus Bäck Professor of Cardiology at the Department of Medicine, Solna Magnus Bäck was born in Köping in 1972. He was awarded his medical degree at KI in 1998 and since then has primarily been clinically active at Karolinska University Hospital. He defended his PhD at KI in 2001 and in 2003–2004 was a postdoc in Göran K Hansson’s group at CMM, the Center for Molecular Medicine. Between 2006–2008 Magnus Bäck worked as a visiting researcher

and cardiologist at Hôpital Bichat in Paris, France. After returning to Sweden, he created a research group at CMM. He became a Specialist in Cardiology in 2009 and a Docent in 2010. On 1 December 2016, Magnus Bäck was appointed Professor of Cardiology at Karolinska Institutet.

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Seeking treatments to delay or prevent onset of rheumatoid arthritis Anca Catrina is conducting research into the early stage of rheumatoid arthritis. She wants to understand how the disease starts, and to find new treatments to delay or completely prevent the disease from breaking out. Her research also focuses on identifying healthy people with an elevated risk of getting the disease.

Much is still unknown about the mechanisms that result in somebody being affected by rheumatoid arthritis. Anca Catrina’s research focuses on understanding more of this process, and on finding methods for early identification and treatment of people at high risk of getting the disease. “We have advanced a little along the road to understanding the early course of the disease,” Anca Catrina says. “It has been known for some time that a large majority of the people who are affected by rheumatism have specific antibodies in their blood several years before the disease breaks out. We have shown that in the first stage of the disease, these antibodies increase the breakdown of bone tissue. We have also identified a signal molecule which we believe could be the cause of this bone loss.” Now Anca Catrina’s research group is preparing clinical trials to see whether established drugs (currently used to treat osteoporosis) can prevent progression to rheumatoid arthritis in people who have the early stage of the disease. The group is also conducting

research into new candidate drugs that could block the inflammatory signalling molecules that results in bone loss. Another of Anca Catrina’s research tracks concerns identification of people who are at a high risk of later being affected by rheumatoid arthritis, as well as the development of advice and preventive aids directed at this group. This work includes a newly-opened clinic for people at high risk and implementation of new clinical tools (such as new ways for evaluating pain using the questionnaire on the website ontilederna.se).

Anca Catrina Professor of Rheumatology at the Department of Medicine, Solna Anca Catrina was born in 1971 in Bucharest, Romania, completed medical studies at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, and was awarded her medical licence in 1996. She has worked at Saint Mary University Hospital, Bucharest, as an Assistant Professor and Specialist in Rheumatology and since 2005 at Karolinska University Hospital, where she is today a Consultant.

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Anca Catrina was awarded her PhD at KI in 2004, and was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2014 and Adjunct Professor in 2016. She has been appointed Head of the Rheumatology Unit at the Department of Medicine, Solna, from September 2017. On 1 February 2017, Anca Catrina was appointed Professor of Rheumatology at Karolinska Institutet.

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Seeking new ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s at an early stage Angel Cedazo-Minguez is conducting research into Alzheimer’s disease. He wants to understand how the metabolism of cholesterol and insulin in the brain contributes to the onset of the disease. In the long-term, he hopes to develop new diagnostic methods and treatments for Alzheimer’s, before the disease gives symptoms.

The purpose of Angel Cedazo-Minguez’s research is to understand how known risk factors contribute to the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. He is hoping that the research will result in new methods for detection of disease in the pre-stages and prevent it from actually giving symptoms. “If we know which mechanism are involved and how they result in neurodegeneration, we will have a foundation from which we can create molecules that can prevent the process,” he explains. Angel Cedazo-Minguez’s group is focussed on two research tracks. One concerns cholesterol metabolites in the brain. Patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases have increased concentrations of 27-hydroxycholesterol in the brain, which is formed by the degradation of cholesterol. “We have shown that 27-hydroxycholesterol has effects on the synapses, glucose metabolism and inflammatory processes in the brain, and we have identified a number of the mechanisms involved,” says Angel Cedazo-Minguez.

The second research track involves uptake of insulin by the brain. Alzheimer’s and diabetes have a number of common elements, and Angel Cedazo-Minguez hypothesises that insulin resistance in the brain is a contributory factor in Alzheimer’s. “In 80 percent of brains from deceased Alzheimer patients, we see insulin resistance even though only a small number of them have been diagnosed with diabetes,” he says. “We also know that insulin has slightly different functions in the brain including an association with cell survival.” Angel Cedazo-Minguez is also the new Head of Research on Neurodegeneration at Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company.

Angel Cedazo-Minguez Professor of Molecular Neurogeriatrics at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Angel Cedazo-Minguez was born in 1966 in Almazán, Spain and studied Biology at the University of Salamanca, graduating in 1991. After working at Pharmacia in Sweden, he started his doctoral studies at KI receiving his PhD in 2002. Angel Cedazo-Minguez was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2010. He was Vice-Head of Department from 2008-2012 and 2015–2017,

Acting Head of Department in 2013, and Head of Section from 2006–2017. Since March 2017 he has been Global Head of Research into Neurodegenerative Disorders for Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company, and on part-time leave from KI. On 15 January 2017, Angel Cedazo-Minguez was appointed Professor of Molecular Neurogeriatrics at Karolinska Institutet.

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Preventing flashbacks with new knowledge of the power of imagery over the psyche Better psychological treatments based on science – this is what Emily Holmes is passionate about. Her research concerns how we think and remember in mental images, and developing new treatments based on this knowledge. Among other things, Holmes’ group has developed methods for reducing the risk of intrusive memories (also known as flashbacks) soon after trauma. Thinking in mental images is different to thinking in words. We can “see” with our inner eye, “hear” with our inner ear and can have the experience of being transported in time and space – for example when remembering an event. This also means that mental imagery can have a very strong emotional impact as she has shown in the lab. Emily Holmes is researching these processes in order not only to understand what happens when we think in mental images but also to be able to develop new psychological treatment techniques. “Imagery plays an important role in a number of mental disorders. For example intrusive images of a trauma, commonly known as flashbacks occur in post-traumatic stress disorder – PTSD,” she explains. “Our hypothesis is that targeting imagery can also play an important role in interventions to prevent PTSD symptoms.” In two recently published clinical studies, Holmes’ research group has demonstrated that a single session treatment including a visually demanding computer game (Tetris) significantly decreased the risk of flashbacks for people who have experienced

either a traumatic traffic accident or a traumatic birth. Recalling the traumatic memory in combination with new visual impressions can make it less intrusive. “Now we are preparing to try similar strategies with other groups who have also been involved in trauma. Refugees comprise a group of which many we know are plagued by intrusive memories of trauma,” comments Emily Holmes. Her translational research also covers mental images in connection with bipolar disorder and depression – in part how extremely positive or negative mental imagers contribute to the disorder, and in part how therapeutic innovations based on mental images can be designed.

Emily Holmes Professor of Psychology at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience Emily Holmes was born in Surrey, United Kingdom, in 1971. She has studied psychology at the University of Oxford, Uppsala University and Royal Holloway University of London, where she completed training as a Clinical Psychologist in 2000. She was awarded her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2005. As a researcher, Holmes has primarily worked at the University of Oxford where she was appointed Professor in 2010 and is

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currently a Visiting Professor. From 2012–2016 she was Programme Leader at the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Science Unit, Cambridge. Holmes came to KI as a Guest Professor in 2014. Emily Holmes has been ”called” from 1 August 2016 to be Professor of Psychology at Karolinska Institutet.

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Mapping the use and sideeffects of pharmaceuticals The development of many new drugs is positive – but also increases the need for research on how they are used and what side effects they may have. Helle Kieler is conducting research into this field, pharmacoepidemiology, and is particularly interested in the effects on mother and child of treatment during pregnancy.

Helle Kieler is looking at how pharmaceuticals are used in society, and their consequences – particularly in the form of side effects. She is the Head of the Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology at KI which not only conducts research but is also a National Centre of Expertise for questions relating to pharmacoepidemiology. “The areas we are targeting include psychiatry, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer,” Kieler says. “These are diseases that affect many people and for some time now these areas have been characterised by rapid drug development; we need to know more about the effects of these new medicines that are now being used.” Helle Kieler’s special interest lies in reproductive pharmacoepidemiology, which means the effects on mother and child of having – or refraining from having – treatment in connection with pregnancy and birth. For example, she has investigated the effect of the antidepressant SSRI drug during pregnancy. “We could show that there are certain excess risks for the child, but that they are much lower than previously claimed,” she says.

“Now we are preparing a long-term follow-up of the children as well as the mothers who were taking antidepressants.” Recently, Kieler’s group also showed that the influenza treatment, Tamiflu, did not pose risks for the child during pregnancy. In order to have large cohorts and high quality results, much of Kieler’s research is conducted as international collaborations – in particular within the framework of the Nordic network NorPEN, the Nordic Pharmacoepidemiological Network.

Helle Kieler Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology at the Department of Medicine, Solna and the Department of Laboratory Medicine Helle Kieler was born in Copenhagen in 1956, and studied medicine at Copenhagen University, graduating in 1982. She specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1990, and as a clinician has primarily worked at Falu Hospital and Uppsala Academic University Hospital. Kieler was awarded a doctorate from Uppsala University in 1997 for her work on the effects and side effects of ultrasound during

pregnancy. She was a postdoctorate at KI from 2001 to 2004 and was employed by the Swedish Medical Products Agency from 2001 to 2006. Since 2006 she has headed the Centre for Psychopharmacology at KI. Helle Kieler was appointed Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology at Karolinska Institutet on 1 December 2016.

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Combining various kinds of data for more knowledge about MS Ingrid Kockum is researching into multiple sclerosis, MS, and is leading the major international collaboration MultipleMS. By combining many different types of data, the project will generate increased knowledge on various types of MS and how to better adapt the treatment to different patient groups.

Ingrid Kockum wants to understand the interplay between genetics and environmental factors in the origins of autoimmune diseases. Currently, her research targets multiple sclerosis, MS. She is the Coordinator for an international consortium, MultipleMS, which was established in 2017, with 21 collaboration partners in Europe and the USA. The project has been granted almost 15 million Euros and will cover around 30,000 patients. “In MultipleMS we are endeavouring to link together different types of data such as genetics, epigenetics, immunology, proteomics and lifestyle factors in order to understand more about the disease,” Ingrid Kockum explains. One purpose of the project is to be able to identify the various subgroups of MS. “We believe that there are a number of different reasons why people get the disease, and why they benefit from different treatments. Today there are a number of new disease modifying drugs which are giving good results in early MS,” Ingrid Kockum points

out, “but more knowledge is needed on how to optimise the new treatments, and what their long-term effects are.” The MultipleMS study is also trying to identify the genes that control the severity of the disease – presumably these genes are different to those that affect the risk of getting the disease. “We also hope that dividing into subgroups will provide clues as to the biological processes and what the disease is basically due to – something that is still unknown,” comments Ingrid Kockum. Her research group also conducts research on topics outside the framework of MultipleMS. One example is an ongoing study on the link between the herpes virus EBV and MS.

Ingrid Kockum Professor of Genetic Epidemiology specialising in multiple sclerosis at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience

Ingrid Kockum was born in 1967 and grew up just outside Ystad. She studied cellular and molecular biology at Cambridge University graduating in 1989, and obtained her PhD at KI in 1995. In 1997, she was a visiting scientist at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford University. In 2002 Ingrid Kockum was appointed Group Leader at KI in the

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Department of Molecular Medicine, and in 2006 transferred to the Department of Clinical Neuroscience. She became an Associate Professor in 2007. On 1 July 2016, Ingrid Kockum was appointed Professor of Genetic Epidemiology specialising in multiple sclerosis at Karolinska Institutet.

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Exploring ways to reset or enhance the immune system’s capacity to fight cancer Stephan Mielke is working in the field of cancer immunotherapy – how cancer cells can be attacked by using the immune system. His research focuses on exploiting the potential of the patient’s own immune system as well as on improved methods for transplanting blood stem cells from another person.

A malignant tumour consists regularly of many different types of cancer cells which may undergo further alterations over time. Therefore ideal therapies against cancer should capable of targeting the disease in all its forms even if it is undergoing change. Stephan Mielke believes that this makes the immune system the perfect weapon against cancer. “Our immune system is normally capable of detecting and eliminating cancer cells,” Stephan Mielke says. “However, cancer cells may escape this control. I am working on cancer immunotherapy dealing with the question on how we can reset or enhance the immune system’s capacity to fight cancer.” One well-established form of cancer immunotherapy is the transplantation of blood stem cells applied in the treatment of leukaemia and other blood cancers. But in recent years there have been rapid developments in immunotherapy for other types of cancer, according to Stephan Mielke. Research in this area focuses not only on removing the barriers used by the cancer cells to

block the immune system, but also on strategies to manipulate immune cells in order to enhance their potency. One example is the CAR T-cell therapy in which the patient’s own T cells are reprogrammed to recognise and kill cancer cells. Stephan Mielke has also been largely involved in developing a technique to prevent the conflict occurring when the two immune systems in stem cell transplantation do not match. The method is planned to be soon tested in a Phase III multi-centre study in Europe and North America.

Stephan Mielke Professor of Haematology and Cell Therapy in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and the Department of Medicine, Huddinge Stephan Mielke was born in 1969 in Bielefeld, West Germany. In 1999 he graduated from Medical School and received his doctoral degree from Georg-August University in Göttingen. In the same year, he started his residency and fellowship program at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. From 2004 to 2007 Mielke carried out his postdoctoral research at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, subsequently joining the Julius Maximilian University of

Würzburg where he has been Professor of Medicine since 2014. In connection with his move to KI, Mielke has been appointed Scientific Director for the Theme Cancer and as head of CAST at Karolinska University Hospital. On 1 January 2017, Stephan Mielke was appointed Professor of Haematology and Cellular Therapy at Karolinska Institutet.

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Researching how bariatric surgery affects pregnancy, delivery and child health The use of bariatric surgery (surgery for weight loss) has increased dramatically in recent decades. Martin Neovius is studying how effective this type of surgery is, its associated risks and its cost effectiveness. One important element is the study of whether the obesity-related risks associated with pregnancy and delivery change after bariatric surgery.

Around one in a hundred pregnant women in Sweden has undergone gastric bypass or other surgery for obesity. This proportion has increased dramatically over the last decade, both in Sweden and abroad, making it a matter of urgency to determine how these interventions affect pregnancy, delivery and the health of the child. “There are large knowledge gaps in this area,” Martin Neovius states. “Severe obesity increases the risk of complications in pregnancy and delivery. Our research reveals that loss of weight induced by bariatric surgery results not only in decreased risks but also increased risks.” Neovius’ group has shown that, on the one hand, bariatric surgery dramatically reduces the risk of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and high birth weight while, on the other hand, it increases the risk that the child will be born too small and too early. In addition, Martin Neovius is looking at other aspects of bariatric surgery – how effective it is for different groups of patients, resultant risks, and how it affects healthcare costs.

“This surgery results in large and sustained weight loss, and has significant positive effects on diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” he comments. “For the majority of patients, the quality of life improves for at least 10 years. But we also know that there is a group who come out very badly – due to medical complications or psychological reasons. Here, the need for more knowledge is great. In an ongoing study we look at suicide and nonfatal self-harm in this patient group compared with individuals treated non-surgically for their obesity.”

Martin Neovius Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Department of Medicine, Solna

Martin Neovius was born in Kristianstad in 1976. He studied medicine at Lund University and has a master’s degree in business administration and economics from the Stockholm School of Economics in Stockholm. In 2005, Neovius defended his PhD at KI and since then has continued with research at KI. He became a Senior

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Lecturer in 2010. His current research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, NIH. On 1 March 2017, Martin Neovius was appointed Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet.

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Seeking more effective and less invasive treatments for oesophagus and stomach cancer Magnus Nilsson conducts research on better treatments against cancer of the oesophagus and stomach. The objective is both to make the treatments more effective and save more lives, and to make them less invasive and contribute to the quality of life of the patient. Tumours in the oesophagus and stomach are common forms of cancer in the world and have a high mortality rate. They are mainly treated with extensive surgery that often has severe side effects for the patient. Magnus Nilsson is a gastrointestinal surgeon and conducts research on how the treatment of oesophagus and stomach cancer can be developed to become more effective and accurate, and at the same time less invasive. “An important question is what the neoadjuvant treatment before the operation should look like,” Magnus Nilsson says. “Should we only give chemotherapy or combine with radiation? Should we operate directly after the preoperative treatment or might it be better to wait three months? Through a number of randomised multicentre studies, we are seeking the answers to such questions.” Much of the research is conducted in a Nordic network that Magnus Nilsson was involved in founding. In the latest study, the German University Hospital Cologne also participated. Another track in Nilsson’s research concerns tools for identifying different forms of oesophagus and stomach cancer.

“We know that radiation is effective against certain kinds of oesophagus cancer, but not others,” he says. “Today, there is, however, a lack of clinically usable markers to be able to make the sorting before treatment.” As a researcher and clinician, Magnus Nilsson is also very involved in questions about patient quality of life. An important part of this is participating in the development of less invasive surgical methods. “We have been involved in contributing to major changes in the area in recent years, above all through the transition to keyhole surgery, which has led to faster recovery for the patients.”

Magnus Nilsson Professor of Surgery at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology

Magnus Nilsson was born in Lund in 1968 and studied medicine at KI, graduating in 1992. He became a specialist in surgery in 2000 and has above all worked at Karolinska University Hospital where he is a Senior Physician at the Gastrocentrum today. He served as the Section Manager at the Gastrocentrum in 2007–2014. Magnus Nilsson earned his PhD at KI in 2004 and became a

Docent in 2011. Since 2014, he has been Head of the Surgery Unit at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology and since 2017, Head of Department. He is also the Chairman of the Swedish Association for Upper Abdominal Surgery (SFÖAK). Magnus Nilsson was appointed Professor of Surgery at Karolinska Institutet on 1 July 2017.

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Aiming to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes Thomas Nyström is researching into cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes. His interests are focused on the intestinal hormone GLP-1. This is used as a diabetes drug, but has also been shown to have a protective effect on the blood vessels, heart and brain.

People with diabetes run a far higher risk of being affected by cardiovascular disease. Thomas Nyström is conducting research into this excess risk and how it can be reduced. His primary focus is the intestinal hormone GLP-1 and the various drugs that increase the concentration of GLP-1 in the body. These substances have been developed as diabetes drugs, but have also been shown to have positive effects on the blood vessels, heart and brain. “We diabetes physicians now have a very extensive palette of drugs to work with in regard to type 2 diabetes, and we need to find out more about how they affect the cardiovascular system,” Thomas Nyström comments. “Large follow-up studies have shown that the drug that is linked with GLP-1 has a protective effect on cardiovascular disease, but we still do not know how.” Thomas Nyström’s research on GLP-1 started with a clinical study which showed that the hormone improved vascular function in individuals with type 2 diabetes after a heart attack.

Nyström has since acquired expertise in numerous research fields such as molecular biology and experimental studies in order to investigate the mechanisms behind this relationship and the clinical potential. “For example, we have shown how GLP-1 affects the blood vessel cells and that the hormone releases vessel-dilating nitrogen monoxide,” he explains. “Now I am again involved in studies on people, in which we investigate how GLP-1 affects cardiac function in people with mild heart failure. We have also initiated a clinical study on whether GLP-1 can counteract complications in individuals with diabetes who have undergone balloon dilatation and stent implantation in the carotid vessels.”

Thomas Nyström Professor of Medicine specialising in Diabetology at the Department of Clinical Research and Education, Södersjukhuset Thomas Nyström was born in Lidköping in 1962 and educated at Karolinska Institutet, taking his doctor’s exams in 1994. He received his medical licence in 1997, qualified as a specialist in internal medicine in 2002, and as a specialist in endocrinology and diabetes in 2006. As a clinician he has always worked at Södersjukhuset, where he has been a Consultant since 2006.

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Nyström defended his PhD thesis at KI in 2005 becoming an Associate Professor in 2012. In addition, he is the Director of Studies for the course “Den sjuka människan 2” (Disease and Illness 2), which is part of the doctors’ education programme. On 1 March 2017, Thomas Nyström was appointed Professor of Medicine specialising in Diabetology at Karolinska Institutet.

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Genetic markers show the way to the most effective treatment for leukaemia Richard Rosenquist Brandell conducts research into how leukaemias arise, and how genetic markers can be used to assess prognosis and to select the most effective treatment. His research focusses primarily on chronic lymphatic leukaemia, CLL.

A third of patients diagnosed with CLL, chronic lymphatic leukaemia, have mild symptoms and will never need treatment. Others need immediate treatment and are at high risk of dying early from the disease. Richard Rosenquist Brandell is focusing his studies on how CLL arises, and how it could be possible to predict the various forms of the disease at an early stage. “We want to understand which genetic changes characterise the various subgroups of the disease, from the mildest form to the most aggressive,” he says. “This will enable early and more correct risk assessment, as well as choosing the correct treatment for the individual patient. We are beginning to see a future in which we can treat CLL completely without the use of cytostatic drugs by combining small molecule inhibitors. This would be an important advance for the patients.” Richard Rosenquist Brandell is one the leaders of an international consortium comprised of 24 research institutes with a total of 30,000 CLL patients.

“The very large size of this material gives us unique opportunities to find new associations. We have identified more than one hundred subgroups of the disease, of which 19 are large, and we are now investigating them carefully using the new sequencing techniques,” he comments. In his research on the origins of CLL, Rosenquist Brandell has focussed on the B-cell receptors. His group has demonstrated that different antigens’ interaction with the receptors is key for the development of the disease. As a clinician, he is also committed to applying modern sequencing techniques in healthcare.

Richard Rosenquist Brandell Professor of Clinical Genetics at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery

Richard Rosenquist Brandell was born in Boden in 1970. He obtained his medical licence at Umeå University in 1996 and was awarded a PhD in 1998. In 2002, he was appointed Associate Professor at Uppsala University, and Professor in 2007. He qualified as a Specialist in Clinical Genetics at Uppsala University Hospital in 2004. Rosenquist Brandell is also Director of a national platform within

SciLifeLab focussing on clinical genomics. He became a Wallenberg Clinical Scholar in 2017. On 14 April 2017, Richard Rosenquist Brandell was appointed Professor of Clinical Genetics at Karolinska Institutet, and Senior Consultant in Clinical Genetics at Karolinska University Hospital.

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PROFESSOR S

Seeking new candidate drugs against disruptions in the cell’s Frizzled receptors To understand the cellular dialogue taking place on the cell surface – that is Gunnar Schulte’s ambition. More specifically, he is interested in how so-called Class Frizzled receptors work. The goal is to provide the foundation for new treatments of diseases that are linked to these receptors, such as various types of cancer and fibrosis.

In order to receive signals from the surroundings, the cells in our body have a large number of differing receptors. Gunnar Schulte is studying one specific group of these, the so-called Frizzleds. His goal is to find new candidate drugs for diseases that are linked with Frizzled, such as certain types of cancer and fibrosis. “We are attempting to understand the cellular dialogue that takes place on the surface of the cell; as well as how a signal from outside the cell is interpreted by a receptor in the cell membrane and translated to a different biochemical signal inside the cell,” Gunnar Schulte explains. “I am particularly interested in what happens when this dialogue breaks down.” Frizzleds are involved in regulating stem cells and cell division, among other things. They play a crucial role in embryo development, and are important throughout our lifetime for tissues that are continuously renewed. When Frizzleds do not work as they should, the result can be congenital malformations or diseases such as intestinal, breast and pancreatic cancer, as well as lung and heart fibrosis.

“I believe that in two or three years we will be able to look for candidate drugs that can mimic or break signalling by the Class Frizzled receptors,” comments Gunnar Schulte. His experience from research into another type of receptors, G protein-coupled receptors, supports his belief that there are significant similarities between these two groups. “Research into Frizzled has its origins in developmental and cancer biology. A more molecular-pharmacological angle of attack will, I believe, help focus more attention on the similarities between these types of receptors,” he says.

Gunnar Schulte Professor of Receptor Pharmacology at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology

Gunnar Schulte was born in 1972 in Berlin, Germany. He is originally a biochemist, graduating from the Free University of Berlin in 1998. During his primary studies, he came to KI for project and Master degree work, and defended his PhD thesis at KI in 2002. From 2003 to 2005 he undertook post-doctoral work at KI and in 2006 at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Since 2007, he has continued with research at KI.

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Schulte became an Associate Professor in Pharmacology in 2008. He is on the editorial board of Pharmacological Reviews, Molecular Pharmacology and the British Journal of Pharmacology. On 1 February 2017, Gunnar Schulte was appointed Professor of Receptor Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet.

PROFESSOR S

Researching methods that can distinguish different kinds of thyroid cancer Jan Zedenius is investigating cancer in the thyroid gland. He wants to understand the differences between various forms of the disease and how to detect these differences early so that all patients receive the treatment that suits them best.

Cancer of the thyroid affects around 600 people in Sweden every year, and is one of the most rapidly increasing forms of cancer in the world. In most cases the prognosis is good, but there are also very aggressive forms of the disease. Jan Zedenius wants to use his research to develop methods that will detect differences between the various forms of thyroid cancer at an early stage. “Because we can’t differentiate, patients today basically receive a standard treatment programme. This means that we over-treat some and under-treat others. The goal of our research is to be able to tailor the treatment to each patient,” he explains. Much of Zedenius’ research is based on a biobank that he and his colleagues have built up over several decades. “It involves frozen endocrine tumour tissue from more than 4,000 patients stored from the 1980s until today. Because it is linked to clinical data, it’s a real gold mine.”

The knowledge that Zedenius’ group has helped acquire has enabled other groups to develop an effective drug against medullary thyroid cancer. The group has also shown that the protein Ki-67 can be used as a prognostic tool in thyroid cancer to better adapt treatment. One common problem after thyroid cancer is paralysis of the vocal cords due to nerve damage. In collaboration with neurospecialists, Zedenius’ group has contributed to a new technique to restore the nerves and normal speech capability. The technique has been tried clinically on a number of patients with good results, and will be presented internationally in the autumn of 2017.

Jan Zedenius Professor of Surgery specialising in Endocrine Surgery at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery

Jan Zedenius was born in Stockholm in 1955 and was awarded his medical degree at KI in 1983. He acquired his physician licence in 1987 and surgeon licence in 1991. Zedenius was awarded his PhD by KI in 1995 and was a postdoc at the University of Sydney, Australia, from 1996–1997. He became a Senior Lecturer in 1999. As a clinician, Jan Zedenius has been Senior Consultant at

Sophiahemmet from 2014–2017 and, prior to this, has primarily worked at Karolinska University Hospital where he was also Head of Department from 2011–2014. On 1 October 2017, Jan Zedenius was appointed Professor of Surgery, specialisation Endocrine Surgery, at Karolinska Institutet, and Consultant at Karolinska University Hospital.

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PROFESSOR S

Looking for biomarkers that can reveal kidney disease at an early stage Johan Ärnlöv is studying kidney disease and its relationship with cardiovascular disease. He is involved in international consortiums that are mapping kidney disease globally. Ärnlöv is also conducting research on new biomarkers for early renal disease and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Johan Ärnlöv is researching into the interaction between the kidneys and the cardiovascular system. It has been known for a long time that severe kidney disease is associated with a large increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, relatively recent knowledge shows that even very mild signs of kidney damage gives a markedly increased risk. “Today, we know that five to ten percent of the population have impaired kidney function and, therefore, a higher risk of cardiovascular disease,” Johan Ärnlöv comments. “This percentage will most probably become even higher in the future, not only because people are living longer but also because obesity and type 2 diabetes are becoming more common.” He is involved in several major international research collaborations, such as the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium and the Global Burden of Disease, which are mapping the occurrence of renal disease and its relationship with cardiovascular disease globally.

Another research track for Johan Ärnlöv is the use of innovative techniques in proteomics and metabolomics to identify new biomarkers that can detect kidney disease, and the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, at a very early stage. These involve single markers as well as groups of biomarkers. “We have found some promising markers, even though we still have a long way to go before we can introduce them into the clinics,” he comments. A good example is endostatin, for which there is a strong link between elevated levels in blood and damage to the kidneys, blood vessels and heart, as well as a very high risk of cardiovascular disease and death. A new study has identified twenty proteins that are independent markers for impairment of kidney function.

Johan Ärnlöv Professor of Family Medicine at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society

Johan Ärnlöv was born in Ludvika in 1970. He received his medical degree from Uppsala University, graduating in 1998 and was awarded a PhD at the same university in 2002. His post-doctoral studies took him to the Boston University School of Medicine, USA, in 2004, and he has since continued with research at Uppsala University financed by the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation and the Swedish Research Council. In 2009 he became an Associate Professor.

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Johan Ärnlöv is also employed by Dalarna University where he has been a Professor since 2015. Ärnlöv works as a clinician for Dalarna County Council, currently as a resident physician at the Norslund primary care clinic. On 1 March 2017, Johan Ärnlöv was appointed Professor of Family Medicine at Karolinska Institutet.

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ADJUNCT PROFESSORS AND VISITING PROFESSORS

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ADJUNCT PROFESSOR S

Olof Akre

Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Adjunct Professor of Urology at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery. The position is at 0.4 FTE for four years starting on 1 October 2016. Olof Akre’s principal position is Senior Consultant in Urology at Karolinska University Hospital. Olof Akre’s primary research challenge is the prevention of overtreatment of prostate cancer by identifying new and more accurate markers of high risk disease in a large population of men. He is heading a large molecular patho-epidemiological case-control study in which diagnostic tumour biopsies from men who died from prostate cancer during follow up, despite seemingly low-risk characteristics at diagnosis, are compared with men who survived. He is also the Principal Investigator in a Nordic, randomized clinical trial comparing primary surgery with adjuvant radiotherapy to primary radiotherapy with neoadjuvant endocrine therapy among 1,200 men with locally advanced but non-metastasized prostate cancer.

Ingrid Dahlman

Photo: Stefan Zimmerman.

Adjunct Professor of Diabetes Research at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge. The position is at 0.3 FTE for four years starting on 1 February 2017. Ingrid Dahlman’s primary position is Senior Consultant in Endocrinology and Diabetology at Ersta Hospital, Stockholm. Ingrid Dahlman is studying the role of the human abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue depot in the development of insulin resistance. The amount and function of white adipose tissue, is linked to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Ingrid Dahlman applies global transcriptome and DNA methylome profiling, as well as genetic association analyses, to define gene regulatory pathways in adipocytes that contribute to adipose tissue dysfunction and insulin resistance. Ingrid Dahlman has recently reported a number of genes implicated in the regulation of body fat size and distribution, and adipose morphology, for example PLXND1 and LAMB3.

Robert Hahn

Photo: Roberts Dahno.

Adjunct Professor of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital. The position is at 0.2 FTE for four years, starting on 1 July 2017. Robert Hahn’s principal position is Research Director at Södertälje Hospital. Robert Hahn’s research focuses on physiology and monitoring of fluid overload in transurethral surgery and kinetic modelling of infusion fluids. Current projects include population kinetic modelling of the fluids that are commonly used in the perioperative setting. With a methodological interest, his current research also includes the development and evaluation of clinically useful methods of monitoring fluid therapy and the detection of preoperative dehydration. Robert Hahn has supervised 20 PhD students, authored more than 300 scientific papers, and edited two books on fluid management. He is a frequent guest lecturer at international meetings and has for the past decade held several leading positions in the European Society of Anaesthesiology.

FTE= Full Time Equivalent

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ADJUNCT PROFESSOR S

Clara Hellner

Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Adjunct Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience. The position is at 0.3 FTE for four years starting on 1 October 2016. Clara Hellner’s principal position is Director, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm County Council and Karolinska Institutet. Clara Hellner is investigating various aspects of abnormal development in adolescents and young adults. Neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and autism are associated with negative psychosocial outcomes during adolescence. In longitudinal studies, she has shown that outcome profiles differ by gender, and that girls with ADHD have a higher risk of emotional problems and drug misuse. Moreover, her research group has identified an association between self-harming and violent behaviours, and that this association is moderated by substance use disorder. Clara Hellner’s research group is currently testing new interventions for self-harming behaviour, focusing on improving emotion regulation skills.

Maria Kugelberg

Photo: Maud Leindahl.

Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology at the Division for Eyes and Vision, Department of Clinical Neuroscience. The position is at 0.2 FTE for four years starting on 1 January 2017. Maria Kugelberg is a Consultant at the St Erik Eye Hospital in Stockholm, and the leader of one of four research groups at the hospital. Maria Kugelberg’s research group is dedicated to research on cataracts in adults and children, and on complications resulting from surgery and how these can be prevented. The group also conducts research into children’s eye diseases, glaucoma and contact lenses. Closest to their hearts is research on children with cataracts, to try to find the best way to operate and the best time – is it immediately after birth or a little later – and whether, for certain eyes with other malformations, one should not operate at all. Kugelberg is also conducting research using data from the National Cataract Registry.

Peter Lindgren

Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Adjunct Professor of Health Economics at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics. The position is at 0.2 FTE for four years, starting on 1 May 2017. Peter Lindgren’s principal position is as Research Director at the Swedish Institute for Health Economics.

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Peter Lindgren’s research focuses on applied methods for economic evaluation. One question is: How do we determine if an intervention provides good value for the resources we spend compared to other things we could invest in, for example is it cost-effective? He is also interested in the role of economic evaluations in reimbursement, and more broadly in the effect of reimbursement systems on the delivery of healthcare. At Karolinska Institutet, Peter Lindgren’s research is presently focused on economic evaluation in areas outside the traditional evaluation of pharmaceuticals, such as interventions that span several sectors of society. 25

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Ole Mogensen

Photo: Private.

Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology and at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 September 2016. Ole Mogensen’s principal position is Director of the Patient Area Pelvic Cancer in Theme Cancer at Karolinska University Hospital. He is also a Professor at the Clinical Institute, University of Southern Denmark. Ole Mogensen’s main research area is robotic surgery within gynaecological cancer. The robots are expensive and widely used despite little supportive evidence. Ole Mogensen’s research group investigates survival, complications, health economics, and quality of life of women with endometrial cancer who have undergone open surgery, standard laparoscopy, and robotic surgery. Furthermore, the effect of laparoscopy and robotic surgery on musculoskeletal pain after surgery is being investigated with the purpose of treatment and prevention. Other focus areas are the use of sentinel node procedures in gynaecological cancer, and follow-up after treatment.

Liselotte Schäfer Elinder

Photo: Anna Molander.

Adjunct Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Department of Public Health Sciences. The position is at 0.2 FTE for four years starting on 1 April 2017. Liselotte Schäfer Elinder’s principal position is Senior Scientific Officer at the Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm County Council. Liselotte Schäfer Elinder’s research group’s main research aim is to generate evidence that directly informs practice, contributing to evidence-based public health. This is achieved primarily through high quality intervention and implementation research, targeting major health determinants; dietary habits, physical activity, and obesity. Equality in health and sustainable development are guiding principles. One current line of research concerns the evaluation of a programme with parental support to prevent child obesity, involving student healthcare in collaboration with primary healthcare, in disadvantaged areas.

Leif Stenke

Photo: Stefan Zimmerman.

Adjunct Professor of Haematology and Internal Medicine at the Department of Medicine, Solna. The position is at 0.3 FTE for three years starting on 1 September 2016. Leif Stenke’s principal position is Consultant at the Haematology Center, Karolinska University Hospital.

Leif Stenke has extensive experience in clinical and experimental haematology, with more than 150 publications recognized on Web of Science. With a primary research focus on chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), he is acting chair of the Swedish CML Group and the RCC National Guidelines Programme for CML, as well as member of several international leukaemia groups. As principal investigator in numerous clinical trials, with parallel activities in molecular and cellular research, Leif Stenke is aiming at improving the outcome for CML patients with novel, precision-based medical approaches. FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR S & VISITING PROFESSOR S

Anders Svenningsson

Photo: Linnea Rheborg.

Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital. The position is at 0.2 FTE for four years starting on 1 May 2017. Anders Svenningsson’s principal position is Senior Consultant at the Neurology Section, Danderyd Hospital. Anders Svenningsson is investigating new treatment strategies and biomarkers for the disease course in multiple sclerosis, MS. The main aim of his research is to study early effective treatment interventions with a particular focus on optimizing patient benefit. He has been leading the development of rituximab as a treatment for MS, and is presently running a multicenter phase 3 trial of rituximab in early MS, funded by the Swedish Research Council. A major quest now is to establish a vital research environment at the Neurology Section at Danderyd Hospital.

Elisabet Svenungsson

Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Adjunct Professor of Rheumatology at the Department of Medicine, Solna. The position is at 0.2 FTE for four years starting on 1 September 2016. Elisabet Svenungsson’s principal position is Senior Consultant in Rheumatology at Karolinska University Hospital. Clinical studies of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and controls are central to Elisabet Svenungsson´s research. Premature vascular disease is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in these conditions, and understanding the underlying pathophysiology is a major goal. A key observation is that SLE subgroups differ in regard to disease presentation and risk factors. Prothrombotic antiphospholipid antibodies as well as renal disease with accelerated atherosclerosis are major contributors to the high vascular risk; however, these two risk groups are independent of each other and will likely benefit from different preventive strategies.

Ingrid Agartz

Photo: Ann Eriksson.

Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 October 2016. Ingrid Agartz’s principal position is Professor at the University of Oslo, Department of Clinical Medicine, and Senior Consultant, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo.

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Ingrid Agartz is investigating brain structure and function using magnetic resonance imaging in clinical cohorts of adolescent and adult schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients in Sweden and Norway, and in international collaborations. The aim is to acquire knowledge on how genetic and early, primarily non-genetic risk factors, impact on brain development, to study disease pathophysiology and to determine the effects on the brain of substance use or medication. In longitudinal follow-up studies, she is investigating the developmental brain trajectories that are predictive of future disease course or resilience. 27

VISITING PROFESSOR S

Photo: Ferdinando Bonfiglio.

Mauro D’Amato Visiting Professor of Gastrointestinal Genetics at the Department of Medicine, Solna. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 January 2017. Mauro D’Amato’s principal position is Ikerbasque Research Professor at the BioDonostia Health Research Institute in San Sebastian, Spain. Mauro D’Amato is investigating how genetic variations predispose to gastrointestinal (GI) disease. Through computational genetic approaches, his team strive to identify causative genes and the mechanisms by which they affect the risk of inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and other GI conditions. They are also studying how the host genes influence gut microbiota composition, which is relevant to key bowel functions, and their dysregulation in human disease. The ultimate goal of Mauro’s studies is a translational application for improved therapeutic precision in gastroenterology.

Brian D’Onofrio

Photo: Chris Meyer.

Visiting Professor of Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 November 2016. Brian D’Onofrio’s principal position is Professor and Director of Clinical Training at Indiana University, Bloomington. Brian D’Onofrio is studying the causes and treatment of psychological disorders using advanced statistical and epidemiological methods. In particular, he and his colleagues are examining the processes that underlie the association between putative risk/protective factors and psychological problems using large datasets, genetically-informed designs, and longitudinal analyses. His collaborative work is now focused on examining the long-term consequences of pregnancy-related exposures, the risks and benefits of psychotropic medications, and the causes of suicidal behaviour.

Miguel Hernán

Photo: Anders Ahlbom.

Visiting Professor of Epidemiology at the Institute of Environmental Medicine. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 July 2017. Miguel Hernán’s principal position is as Kolokotrones Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Miguel Hernán conducts research on how to do research. He studies causal inference methods and implements them in order to evaluate strategies for the treatment and prevention of disease. Together with collaborators in several countries, he designs analyses of healthcare databases, epidemiologic studies and randomised trials. Currently, his research focuses on the screening and treatment of cancer, the comparative effectiveness of in vitro procedures and the optimal management of antiretroviral therapy.

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VISITING PROFESSOR S

Reinhilde Jacobs

Photo: Private.

Visiting Professor of Oral Radiology at the Department of Dental Medicine. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 November 2016. Reinhilde Jacobs’ principal position is Professor at the Department of Imaging and Pathology, Group Biomedical Sciences at the University of Leuven, and Clinical Head of the Dentomaxillofacial Radiology Center, University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. Reinhilde Jacobs has a primary focus on diagnostic dentomaxillofacial 3D imaging research. This research covers development of 3D image-based diagnostic pathways. To achieve this, the challenge is to use multiple 3D imaging modalities to create a 3D integrated virtual patient. This could generate optimized applications for presurgical planning, peroperative guidance and objective postoperative assessment. Software applications and derived 3D printed tools (OMFS-IMPATH research group, University of Leuven) may serve as a basis for collaborative research with the Department of Dental Medicine at KI.

Kirsi Jahnukainen

Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Visiting Professor of Paediatric Oncology at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health. The position is at 0.25 FTE for three years starting on 1 September 2016. Kirsi Jahnukainen’s principal position is Senior Researcher at the Children’s Hospital, University of Helsinki. Kirsi Jahnukainen focuses on late adverse effects among adult survivors of childhood cancer and paediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Jahnukainen and her colleagues have shown that survivors after paediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at risk of early gonadal, skeletal and vascular aging and frailty. Her research group is exploring methods to predict and prevent gonadal late effects after childhood cancer. The clinical aim is to establish clinical quality testing of cryopreserved immature ovarian and testicular tissue collected for fertility preservation.

Eija Kalso

Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Visiting Professor of Pain Research at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 November 2016. Eija Kalso’s principal position is Professor of Pain Medicine, University of Helsinki.

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Eija Kalso is studying processes that make acute pain persistent, and how persistent pain can be prevented and treated. Her group has developed a risk assessment tool to predict which patients are at high risk of developing persistent pain after surgery. This tool will be used to target preventive methods for high risk patients. She is also investigating the role of the autonomic nervous system, sleep, and neuroinflammation in pain sensitivity and persistence. Eija Kalso has a long-standing interest in opioid pharmacology, such as why opioids lose their efficacy and can render patients more sensitive to pain.

VISITING PROFESSOR S

Seishi Ogawa

Photo: Private.

Visiting Professor of Molecular Hematology at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 31 July 2017. Seishi Ogawa’s principle position is Professor of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University. Seishi Ogawa is investigating the genetic basis of cancer using advanced genetics, including high-throughput sequencing. His major focus is on haematological malignancies, particularly myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) characterized by refractory cytopenia and leukaemic transformation. His group first described frequent splicing factor mutations, cohesion mutations, as well as other mutations in MDS, contributing to the recent progress in the molecular pathogenesis of MDS.

Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir

Photo: Stefán.

Visiting Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Department of Public Health Sciences. The position is at 0.5 FTE for three years starting on 1 January 2017. Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir‘s principal position is Professor at Reykjavik University, Iceland. Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir focuses on risk and protective factors in the prevention of adolescent delinquency and health-related behaviours. She is the principal investigator for an interdisciplinary group of scholars in the US and Europe, conducting a longitudinal, bio-social study of Icelandic children. She is the founder and CEO of a social science research institute, the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA). At ICSRA she and her colleagues have built a nationwide, annually-updated database on various aspects of health and behaviour among schoolage children and adolescents.

Oliver Soehnlein

Photo: Private.

Visiting Professor of Inflammation Physiology at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. The position is at 0.2 FTE for three years starting on 1 February 2017. Oliver Soehnlein’s principal position is Professor of Vascular Immunotherapy at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich.

Oliver Soehnlein is investigating the importance of the most abundant white blood cell, the neutrophil, in the context of chronic inflammatory diseases, with specific focus on atherosclerosis and its complications, such as myocardial infarction. His team identified that neutrophils accelerate the development and progression of atherosclerosis and, based on these findings, have identified and patented innovative strategies for treatment. In the context of restenosis and myocardial infarction, both of which are common complications of atherosclerosis, Oliver Soehnlein identified a beneficial role of neutrophils and was able to therapeutically apply these findings to preclinical mouse models.

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FOREIGN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR

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VISITING PROFESSOR FOREIGN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR S

In order to strengthen its international network of contacts, Karolinska Institutet is appointing well-reputed colleagues from abroad as foreign adjunct professors. Their association with Karolinska Institutet must be one of long-standing international collaboration or scientific exchange. A foreign adjunct professor must hold a position or an appointment corresponding to â&#x20AC;&#x153;full professorâ&#x20AC;? at their home university or elsewhere, and be an internationally leading researcher in his or her field. The term of office normally lasts six years and can be extended upon review. The appointment does not entail any financial undertakings.

Nicolas G Bazan Foreign Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience

Photo: Darryl Schmitt.

Home university Neuroscience Center of Excellence, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health, USA

Department at KI Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society

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VISITING PROFESSOR S

PRIZES AND AWARDS

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PRIZES AND AWARDS

The Grand Silver Medal is awarded to Marc Bygdeman and Tore Curstedt

Photo: Lennart Isaksson/Scanpix.

Photo: Heinz Troll/European Patent Office.

The Grand Silver Medal 2017 from Karolinska Institutet is awarded to Marc Bygdeman and Tore Curstedt in special recognition of the outstanding contributions they have made to medical research and to Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Emeritus Marc Bygdeman has been awarded

The Grand Silver Medal for outstanding contributions to research, education and healthcare and for significant involvement in the World Health Organisation’s work in fertility and family planning. He has dedicated his entire professional life to developing safer and more effective methods of abortion. During this time he has also worked unstintingly for the introduction and defence of the current abortion legislation. Under Professor Bygdeman’s leadership, research at Karolinska Institutet’s WHO centre has resulted in development of the medically-induced abortion, which today is well-established and is preferred by more than 90 percent of Swedish women as it minimises the risks compared with surgical intervention. Every year, about 50,000 women around the world die as the result of unsafe abortions. Effective, safe and accepted abortion methods are essential for reproductive health. Changed abortion methods, which are more accessible, accepted and safe, thus have enormous importance for women’s health.

Associate Professor Tore Curstedt at the Department of

Molecular Medicine and Surgery at Karolinska Institutet has been awarded the Grand Silver Medal for the work he and his colleague Bengt Robertson, who died in 2008, have done on their innovative treatment for preterm babies with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). RDS has been the leading cause of death among preterm babies for decades. It has been known since the 1950s that premature babies die due to the lack of surfactant, the substance which surrounds the inside of the lung alveoli. Attempts to synthesize the substance started in the 1960s, but these failed. However, when Pathologist Bengt Robertson and Clinical Chemist Tore Curstedt joined forces, they managed to extract the active ingredients from porcine lungs and develop a drug, Curosurf, which is used in more than 90 countries and is estimated to have saved more than half a million preterm babies. Tore Curstedt has together with a colleague also developed a synthetic surfactant which is in clinical trials in United States and Europe. Unlike Curosurf the synthetic drug can be produced in large amounts and enables future treatment of adults suffering of lung diseases associated with inactive surfactant.

AB OUT THE PRIZ E The medal is awarded to a person who has made great contribution to support Karolinska Institutet’s activities. One or more medals will be awarded in conjunction with the installation ceremony in Aula Medica. The Grand Silver Medal is handed out to external receivers primarily but in special cases also to internal receivers.

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PRIZES AND AWARDS

The Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize is awarded to Arvid Guterstam Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Arvid Guterstam, postdoc at the Department of Neuroscience, has been awarded the prize for his thesis on the neural mechanisms of the sense of bodily self. Arvid Guterstam receives the prize for his research on the neural and cognitive basis of bodily self-perception using a combination of human behavioural and neuroimaging approaches, including the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A key finding was that the sense of one’s own body is dependent on the integration of temporally and spatially congruent visual, tactile and proprioceptive signals in a spatial reference frame centred on the body. One piece of evidence for this arose from his discovery of the “invisible hand illusion” and the behavioural characterization of the perceptual rules that govern this striking perceptual phenomenon. Guterstam’s thesis was awarded an honorary distinction by the Thesis Examination Board; he has published 10 articles in international peer-reviewed journals. He was recently awarded the Wenner-Gren Fellowship and now plans to move the USA for a postdoc at Princeton University, where he will study the neural basis of awareness.

ABO UT THE PRIZ E The Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation was founded in 1992 and since 1996 the Foundation has a collaboration with 23 partner universities, including Karolinska Institutet. The subject area ‘medical science’ focuses on new PhD holders or doctoral students who are in the final phase of their doctoral work. The candidates should not be above 30 years of age during their public defence.

Photo: Martin Stenmark.

The Eric K Fernström Prize is awarded to Óscar Fernandez-Capetillo Óscar Fernandez-Capetillo, Professor of Cancer Therapy at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics has been awarded the prize for his pioneering research on how DNA damage can lead to cancer and ageing. Óscar Fernandez-Capetillo researches replicative stress and replicative damage to DNA – in other words, the irregularities that occur when DNA copies itself during cell division. Such damage causes both ageing and cancer. Fernandez-Capetillo’s research interest lies in what causes this replicative stress and how cells discover and repair the resulting damage, a process in which the enzyme ATR kinase plays a key role. He has shown, for instance, that replicative stress accelerates ageing in mammals, and that ATR-blockers are a future cancer drug candidate. His group at Karolinska Institutet is also working on developing a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Óscar Fernandez-Capetillo was born in 1974. He was appointed Professor of Cancer Therapy at Karolinska Institutet on 1 January 2015.

ABO UT THE PRIZ E The Eric K. Fernström Foundation was established in 1978 and annually awards a Nordic prize and six prizes to young and particularly promising researchers who have made outstanding contributions to medical science. Each medical faculty of the country elects its prize-winner.

FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

Photo: Daniel Rosik.

Photo: Gunnar Ask.

PRIZES AND AWARDS

The Sven & Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize is awarded to Katja Petzold and Simon Elsässer The Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize in Medicine is awarded to Assistant Professors Katja Petzold and Simon Elsätter, both at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics. Katja Petzold has been awarded the prize for her discoveries concerning RNA structure and function using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and other biophysical techniques. Until recently, only snapshots of molecules could be observed, occluding their mode of operation. Being able to see the function of these molecular machines has generated various new drug targets. Petzold’s lab is developing methods in NMR and RNA biochemistry to address these questions. Simon Elsässer has been awarded the prize for his discoveries concerning epigenetic silencing mechanisms involving histone modifications. His work focuses on applying new synthetic and chemical biology methods to understand chromatin structure and function. Elsätter’s research group is developing tools to engineer proteins in living cells based on genetic code expansion and unnatural amino acid mutagenesis. These methods allow the group to dissect the complex mechanisms governing chromatin dynamics, histone modifications and epigenetic inheritance.

ABOUT THE PRIZ E This prize is awarded annually by the Board of Research as ”recognition for a scientific article of high value published by a Swedish scientific researcher”. The actual choice of the prize winner takes place by way of nomination.

Photo: Stefan Zimmerman.

Karolinska Institutet’s Pedagogical Prize is awarded to Ewa Ehrenborg Ewa Ehrenborg, Professor of Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine at the Department of Medicine, Solna, is awarded the prize in recognition of her contributions to interprofessional learning and student-activating research-based education. With her innovative approach to teaching and learning, Eva Ehrenborg has helped to develop a form of student-activating teaching that integrates the latest research and peer learning in novel and imaginative ways. She is also something of a pioneer in developing interprofessional learning between different student groups at all academic levels. Thanks to her pedagogical leadership skills, Ewa Ehrenborg has made a unique contribution to the quality of the clinical placement elements of Karolinska Institutet’s study programmes. Eva Ehrenborg has been involved in KI’s biomedicine programme for many years as a teacher, course director and member of the programme committee. She is also the director of the Centre for Clinical Education (CKU-KI) and is the coordinator for teaching capacity issues for the Board of Higher Education.

ABOUT THE PRIZ E The prize is awarded annually to individual teachers, teacher teams or administrative personnel who have conducted good pedagogical initiatives comprising of pedagogical development or renewal work within KI’s programmes at first cycle, second cycle as well as postgraduate studies. The prize-winners are chosen by the Board of Higher Education following suggestions from a prize committee.

FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

PRIZES AND AWARDS

Photo: Mia Orling / Medicinsk Bild.

The Håkan Mogren Prize is awarded to Folke Hammarqvist The Håkan Mogren Foundation has awarded its 2017 medical scholarship in recognition of – and for the advancement of – efforts for human well-being to Folke Hammarqvist, Associate Professor of Surgery at Karolinska Institutet and Consultant at Karolinska University Hospital. Folke Hammarqvist has been awarded the stipend in honor of his professional skills and his empathic approach. Not only does he provide support and care for his patients and their relatives, he listens to his colleagues and creates a true team spirit. The justification for the award also highlights the fact that he is a role model within education where he is recognized for his major commitment and teaching skills. The area of emergency surgery and traumatology, plays a central role in health care. Currently, the highest share of admitted patients arrive at hospitals as emergency patients. Emergency surgery and traumatology require excellent team work, where optimal safety is achieved when patients, relatives and the entire team are all involved in the treatment. Folke Hammarqvist has worked extensively in education, with practical medical work experience and together with others to reinforce the organizations involving emergency surgery and traumatology both in Sweden and abroad. Throughout the years he has educated thousands of medical students and junior medical doctors.

ABO UT THE PRIZ E The Håkan Mogren Foundation was established in 2012. Its dual purpose is to promote education and research within the medical field and to promote the education and training of classical musicians, particularly singers. Within the medical field, the purpose of the prize is as follows: to provide the opportunity for well-qualified, scientifically competent and clinically active physicians to improve themselves professionally, or to carry out research in a particular field of interest to them.

Photo: Jannis Politidis.

The Malin & Lennart Philipson Prize is awarded to Volker Lauschke Volker M. Lauschke, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, is awarded the prize for his work on the development and characterization of physiological hepatic model systems. These findings enable the study of the molecular basis underlying inter-individual differences in drug response. Volker M. Lauschke received his PhD from the EMBL and the Combined Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Heidelberg in 2013 for his work on tissue patterning using molecular oscillators. In 2014, he moved to Karolinska Institutet as a Marie Curie Fellow to work on the development and characterization of physiological hepatic model systems to enable the study of the molecular basis underlying inter-individual differences in drug response. After two years of postdoctoral studies at KI, Dr Lauschke was appointed Assistant Professor of Liver Function and Regeneration in 2017.

ABO UT THE PRIZ E The Malin and Lennart Philipson Foundation awards a prize and grant for molecular biomedical research with the aim to help young, promising scientists to establish an independent research group after their postdoc training. Apart from the researcher’s scientific merits, the award also recognises the ability as a leader to establish a strong research group. FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

PRIZES AND AWARDS

Photo: Christa Reißmann.

Med dr Axel Hirch’s Prize is awarded to Nils Hansson Nils Hansson, researcher at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, is awarded the Axel Hirsch Prize 2017 for his research in Swedish and German archives on candidates for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine who were not awarded the prize. Nils Hansson is a historian of medicine with a particular interest in the history of surgery over the last 150 years. He received his PhD from Lund University in 2013, defending a thesis on medical contacts between Sweden and Germany during the Nazi era. While a Visiting Scholar at McGill University in Montreal in 2014 and at Harvard Medical School in Boston in 2015, he began to see connections between the Nobel Prize and the history of transplant surgery. Transplant medicine was of great significance throughout the 20th century, and has always been a topic of interest to the Nobel Prize Committee. Nils Hansson reviewed many of the nominations for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine held at Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna. He used the nominations to study the mechanisms behind excellence in medicine, and to find out what makes researchers worthy of the prize. His research on the history of the Nobel Prize has been highlighted in Nature, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, and in German TV, radio, and newspapers. Since 2014 Nils Hansson has written 17 articles on this subject, several of which have been published or are in press in recognised scientific journals. In his case studies of nominated surgeons, he has found an emphasis on ideas of genius, scientific heroism, boldness, as well as utopian visions of the scientific solution of seemingly insurmountable problems.

ABOUT THE PRIZE This prize is awarded annually by the Board of Research as ”recognition for a scientific article of high value published by a Swedish scientific researcher”. The actual choice of prize winner takes place by way of nomination.

FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

PRIZES AND AWARDS

Lennart Nilsson Award is awarded to Xiaowei Zhuang

Photo: Private.

Xiaowei Zhuang is the recipient of the 2017 Lennart Nilsson Award for making breakthrough discoveries in the beautiful world of cell biology, literally making the invisible visible, with the STORM technique that was developed in her laboratory. Xiaowei Zhuang is the David B. Arnold Professor of Science at Harvard University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. In 2006, she pioneered a method that would go on to revolutionize the world of fluorescence microscopy. She developed a single-molecule-based super-resolution light microscopy method called “Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy” or STORM. It overcame the diffraction limit and extended the spatial resolution of light microscopy by an order of magnitude to a few tens of nanometers. The resolution of STORM was further extended by Xiaowei Zhuang’s laboratory to a few nanometers, nearly 100 times higher than conventional diffraction-limited light microscopy. Xiaowei Zhuang has since been using STORM to illuminate the beautiful and small world of biology in the most unexpected ways. The best example is her discovery of a periodic cytoskeletal structure in neurons. This structure consists of highly regular, periodic actin rings connected by spectrin tetramers. This structure was too small to visualize with conventional light microscopy and has escaped detection in spite of many decades of neuron imaging efforts. It took STORM and Xiaowei Zhuang´s eye for detail to bring to light this unexpected and visually stunning structure. This cytoskeletal structure plays an essential role in giving axons their mechanical stability under stress as well as other important functional roles in neurons. Periodic membrane skeleton in neurons revealed by STORM: Conventional, diffraction limited image of actin in the axons of neurons. (Upper panel)

3D STORM image of actin in the same region as in the upper panel. Color encodes the position information in the z direction. (Middle panel) Two-color STORM image actin (green) and βII-spectrin (magenta) in an axon. (Lower panel)

References: K. Xu, G. Zhong, X. Zhuang. Actin, spectrin and associated proteins form a periodic cytoskeleton structure in axons. Science 339, 452-456 (2013).

ABOUT THE PRIZE The Lennart Nilsson Award is the world’s top accolade in scientific and medical photography. The award was inaugurated in 1998 in honour of Swedish medical photographer Lennart Nilsson, who achieved worldwide recognition for his images. The prize is awarded each year to individuals who make an outstanding contribution to scientific photography “in the spirit of Lennart Nilsson”. FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

PRIZES AND AWARDS

FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2017

2017 Text Professors: Anders Nilsson (Translation: Semantix) Editor: Helena Mayer, Communications and Public Relations Office Portraits (unless otherwise stated): Creo Media Group | Cover photo: Human Cell, iStock Design: Sofia Lindberg, Communications and Public Relations Office Print: DanagĂĽrd LITHO AB 2017 | ISBN: 978-91-85681-91-4

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