MIMS/UCMR Mini-Symposium, 29 May 2018

Welcome to the 3rd MIMS/UCMR-Mini-Symposium of this year!

29 May 2018, 9:00 - 11:50

Bergasalen, Umeå University Hospital (NUS), South Entrance
Presentations by the Oliver Billker, appointed new Director of MIMS from 1st October, Barbara Sixt, new MIMS Group Leader,  Gemma Atkinson and Linda Sandblad, recipients of UCMR Gender Policy Support. In the second session five Postdoctoral Fellows from the MIMS/UCMR Postdoctoral Programme will present: Christian Pett, Hiraku Takada, Ravendra Nagampalli, Dharmedra Kumar Soni, Rajender Kumar.

Hosts: Bernt Eric Uhlin, Maria Fällman, Elisabeth Sauer-Eriksson, Åke Forsberg

Please register here latest on 27 May:
https://kbc-forms.upsc.se/forms/75-ucmr-mims-minisymposium.html

Contact for questions: Eva-Maria Diehl, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

NOTE the programme is updated (Christian Pett's presentation has been cancelled)

Programme for download

Read more: MIMS/UCMR Mini-Symposium, 29 May 2018

Treatment of cancer could become possible with adenovirus

[2018-04-19] An international team of researchers led by professor Niklas Arnberg at Umeå University, shows that adenovirus binds to a specific type of carbohydrate that is overexpressed on certain types of cancer cells. The discovery opens up new opportunities for the development of virus-based cancer therapy. The study is published in the latest issue of the scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA",  PNAS April 19, 2018.

Adenovirus is a common virus that causes infectious diseases of the respiratory tract, eyes and gastrointestinal tract in humans and animals. Researchers at Umeå University study molecular mechanisms of infection in order to understand how adenovirus causes disease.
The researchers in Umeå, together with research groups from Germany, the UK and Hungary, have now discovered a new type of mechanism used by a rare adenovirus type to attack cells.

Read more: Treatment of cancer could become possible with adenovirus

Carl-Henrik Heldin and Oliver Billker receive ERC Advanced Grants

Two ERC Advanced Grants which have recently been awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) have a close relation to MIMS.

One € 2.5 million grant for a period of 5 years will the chair of the MIMS Executive Board professor Carl-Henrik Heldin receive for his project "Pro-tumorigenic effects of TGFb - elucidation of mechanisms and development of selective inhibitors". The second grant was awarded to Umeå University and to the recently appointed new MIMS Director Dr. Oliver Billker for his project: ”Sex in malaria parasites - from genome scale functional gene profiling to transmission blocking intervention targets”. Billker will start his lab at MIMS from 1st of October 2018. Congratulations to both grantees!

More information:
The ERC Advanced Grant (Press Release by the ERC 2018-04-06)
Webpage of Dr. Oliver Billker's laboratory
Webpage of Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin
Press release of Umeå University (only published in Swedish)
(Pictures: Uppsala University and private)

Oliver Billker appointed new Director of MIMS

[2018-04-17] MIMS proudly announces that Dr. Oliver Billker from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK, has been recruited as future director of MIMS. Dr. Oliver Billker is a distinguished expert in malaria parasite genomics. In October 2018, he will succeed the founding Director of MIMS, Professor Bernt Eric Uhlin, who has held the role since 2007.

The search committee, which was led by the chair of the MIMS Executive Board, Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin, also included Professor Iain Mattaj, Director General for EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory).
“I am very pleased that Dr. Oliver Billker has accepted to be the next director of MIMS,” says Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin.
“With his outstanding scientific credentials, extensive international network and excellent leadership skills, he is the perfect person to lead this very successful institute.”

“Oliver Billker is an excellent choice to lead MIMS”, adds Professor Iain Mattaj.
“His experience in the large-scale genetics and genomics of malaria parasites and his participation in international collaborations will be valuable additions to the MIMS portfolio”.

Read more: Oliver Billker appointed new Director of MIMS

Welcome to the UCMR/MIMS Minisymposium!

During 2016/2017 fifteen postdocs have been recruited to the UCMR /MIMS postdoctoral programme in competitive calls.

UCMR and MIMS has the ambition to facilitate visibility and promote networking for these postdocs.  Eight of these young investigators are now invited to present themselves and their research to the broad UCMR/MIMS research community.

Tuesday 10 April 2018, 14:30 - 17:00
Lilla hörsalen, KBC, KB.E3.01

Read more: Welcome to the UCMR/MIMS Minisymposium!

Battling antibiotic resistance

Scientists from MIMS and UCMR contributed to the movie "Battling antibiotic resistance" produced by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Meet Umeå scientists Felipe Cava, Maria Fällman, Fredrik Almqvist, Elisabeth Sauer-Eriksson and Jörgen Johansson and MIMS Board member Birgitta Henriques Normark and their research on new antimicrobial strategies to fight antibiotic resistance.

Movie published by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, 20 February 2018.

Details of antibiotic resistance mechanisms revealed in hospital-acquired drug-resistant pathogens

[2018-03-02] A new paper published by the research groups of Gemma Atkinson and Vasili Hauryliuk at Umeå University resolves years of uncertainty about how the widespread antibiotic resistance factors in the protein group ABCF family confer resistance to lincosamide antibiotics, often used in treatment of infections caused by staphylococci, streptococci and anaerobic bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today and the new antimicrobial strategies are urgently needed. Scientists at the Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR) and at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) study therefore also antibacterial resistance mechanisms in order to develop new therapeutic strategies against resistant bacteria. The researchers solved recently a mystery in antibiotic resistance research and published their findings in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, which specialises in leading edge research into nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, and the proteins with which they interact.

Read more: Details of antibiotic resistance mechanisms revealed in hospital-acquired drug-resistant pathogens

Vasili Hauryliuk honoured with Estonian National Research Award

[2018-03-02] Congratulations to Vasili Hauryliuk, who was honored with the National Research Award in Chemistry and Molecular Biology 2018 of the Republic of Estonia on 20th of February in Tartu. Hauryliuk was awarded as one of seven members of a research team at UT Institute of Technology led by Tanel Tenson, professor of the technology of antimicrobial compounds. The team was awarded for the cycle of research works, “Mechanisms of antibiotic action and antibiotic resistance”. The other members in the awarded research team are: Arvi Jõers, Niilo Kaldalu, Karin Kogermann, Ülo Maiväli, Marta Putrinš, all UT Institute of Technology. 

Read more: Vasili Hauryliuk honoured with Estonian National Research Award

Two Nordic foundations support a network in Cryo-EM, a Nobel Prize–winning technology

A new Swedish-Danish research alliance wants to advance understanding of how biological molecules look and behave. With support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation, scientists at four universities in Sweden and Denmark will join forces to create a Nordic network in cryoelectron microscopy, whose developers were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The CryoNet network will bring together experts in cryoelectron microscopy at universities in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Umeå. A Swedish- Danish partnership between the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation will fund the network. Each foundation has awarded a grant of €1 million over 4 years for CryoNet.

Read more: Two Nordic foundations support a network in Cryo-EM, a Nobel Prize–winning technology

1st Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis, Umeå 25-26 January, 2018

Welcome to the Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis, Umeå!
The first Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis will take place at Norrland University Hospital and is organized by researchers at Umeå University, Infection Clinic / TB Centrum Norr and TBnet.

Registration (deadline 20 January 2018)
Registration form

Please visit ucmr.umu.se for preliminary programme.