A word from Acting Head of Department
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Dear colleagues,
Since last time the President of the Karolinska Institutet did her visit at our department. We discussed many things and our impression was that the leadership agrees with us that MBB remains a flagship department when it comes to scientific output and quality. Thanks to the hard work of all of you!
Something that the current leadership of KI is concerned about though, is the amount of myndighetskapital that our department has accumulated. Myndighetskapital is the fancy swedish name for state funding that we didn’t use yet. The government basic funding is supposed to be spent and if we save it, it becomes myndighetskapital. As I write this there are plans underway to limit and potentially even take back this type of money. This is a challenge not only for MBB but for other departments as well. The incentives to have money left is of course strong, no one who has a research group will argue with that, and I and others try to make the case that having a backup in case of failed grant applications is just something that we all need. The discussion is ongoing and I will do my best to argue our case. Stay tuned.
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On a happy note I am proud to say that our department was incredibly strong in the recent round of Wallenberg Scholar grant. MBB has more than 50 percent of all the Scholars at KI and indeed the number of Wallenberg Scholars at our department alone is on par with some well known Swedish universities! Congratulations to you all!
Björn Högberg
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News from the teaching unit
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Contents of compliation theses at KI for PhD degree and the description of learning outcomes
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Recently the Committee for Doctoral Education revised the requirements for a PhD compilation thesis to be defended at KI. The new requirements allow the inclusion of more types of papers to be included in a PhD compilation thesis, while still requiring that at least two have been accepted for publication at the time the application for dissertation is sent in to the Dissertation Committee of KI.
Read more about the requirements at the MBB staff pages here
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MBB hearing with professor Björn Högberg
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Reminder for you who don't have a standard vacation
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A reminder to everyone who do not have a standard vacation to plan their vacation and consider taking at least 20 days off while saving a maximum of 30 days throughout the year.
If you have a standard vacation, it will be paid out by Midsummer.
Read more about vacation rules at the MBB staff pages here
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MBB Department handbook 2024
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The University Management's visit to MBB
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Thursday 21 March KI President Annika Östman Wernerson, Vice- President Martin Bergö and University Director Veronika Sundström, met with representatives from MBB to talk about the departments’ activities and on how we can strengthen our dialogue and cooperation going forward.
Read about the visit at the MBB staff pages here
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Q&A about rules when travelling
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Education in information security for staff
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Together, we at KI can help reduce risks in our information management. Shortly, KI's functions for IT- and information security will launch a web-based awareness training where all of us will be able to take part in a series of short lessons that will be distributed via e-mail during the year.
Read more about the lessons on the KI staff pages here
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Latest updates from the University Management
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Several causes of the freezer failure according to internal report
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Cellular architecture of lesions in MS now mapped out
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Using advanced methodology, researchers from our department and Stockholm University were able to reveal at the cellular level how lesions in multiple sclerosis develop. The new results are presented in the journal Cell.
Read the article at ki.se here
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Grants, prizes and awards
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The Svedberg prize 2024 to Björn Reinius
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The 2024 Svedberg Prize is awarded to Björn Reinius, MBB, for his discoveries regarding the gene regulation mechanisms of the X chromosome and his substantial impact on COVID-19 clinical diagnostics.
Read the article at ki.se here
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Roman Zubarev awarded The Berzelius Medal in Gold
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Nils-Göran Larsson awarded ERC Advanced Grant
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Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation awards Scholar grants to 8 MBB researchers
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Welcome to our new colleagues
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Benjamin Munro
Benjamin Munro has joined Nils- Göran Larsson’s group as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge where he investigated therapies aimed at treating childhood inherited mitochondrial diseases.
In Nils- Göran Larsson’s group, Ben will focus on investigating mtDNA regulation in health and disease.
Outside of the lab, Ben enjoys running and seeing the world.
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Alberto Arenas
Alberto Arenas has joined Simon Elsässer’s group as a postdoctoral researcher funded by a RED postdoctoral fellowship.
During his PhD at the University of Granada and the GENYO Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (Granada, Spain) he studied alterations of non-coding RNAs and chromatin remodelling complexes in lung cancer and paediatric leukemias.
In Elsässer’s lab, he will aim to discover microproteins that are implicated in cancer processes, such as EMT and metastasis, and could therefore be used as novel potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for the disease.
Apart from science, he loves learning other languages, sport, and dancing salsa and bachata.
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Hang Zeng
Hang Zeng has joined Onur Dagliyan’s lab as a postdoctoral researcher.
Hang finished his PhD training at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany. His PhD works were mainly focused on deciphering laminar-specific neurovascular coupling features with fMRI in living animals. In addition, he has established an awake rodent model for fMRI and concurrently pupillometry recording.
The primary focus in Dagliyan's group will be to investigate the plasticity of neural circuits produced by molecular signaling, as well as photo-switch those signaling events, in order to decipher the corresponding behavioral phenotypes, e.g., learning and memory.
Outside the laboratory, he enjoys biking, hiking, and swimming.
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Dhruba Tara Maharjan
Dhruba Tara Maharjan has joined the Onur Dagliyan's lab as a postdoctoral researcher.
Tara obtained his Ph.D. Degree in biomedical engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. His research was mainly focused on the bioinformatics analysis of neurodevelopmental diseases such as developmental delay and intellectual disability.
Tara will now focus on single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and translatome analyses to investigate the molecular changes during neuroplasticity.
He loves karate, playing saxophone, and traveling.
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Kristina Bubb
Kristina Bubb joined Nils Göran Larsson's group in March 2024.
Kristina was trained as a pharmacist and completed her PhD at the University Clinic Cologne, focusing on the reasons behind impaired skeletal growth caused by mitochondrial respiration dysfunction.
In Nils Göran Larsson's group Kristina will focus on investigating the significance of mtDNA maintenance and the impact of mitochondrial dysfunction for tissue homeostasis, disease development, and aging.
Outside of academia, Kristina enjoys acrobatic rock'n'roll dancing, staying active with sports, and enjoying a good movie or book.
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Polyxeni Papadea
Polyxeni Papadea has joined Nils-Göran Larsson's group as postdoctoral researcher.
She obtained her PhD degree in biochemistry at University of Patras (Greece) where she specialized in biochemistry of oxidative stress and its medical applications.
In Nils-Göran Larsson’s group she will study the impact of mitochondrial dysfunction on disease and ageing, with a particular focus on targeting mitochondrial function to reprogram liver metabolism in obese mice.
Outside work she enjoys playing tennis, hiking, travelling, and watching movies.
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Editor-in-chief:
Carina Hammarström
Editor:
Sara Lidman
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If you have comments about the newsletter or relevant news, contact Communications Officer Sara Lidman
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