MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Björn Ole Schröder

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Björn O. Schröder. Pictures owned by Björn O. Schröder.

Björn joined MIMS in 2019 as a group leader. I had a chat with him to get to know how he ended up in Umeå and what does he like to do when he is not at work. Björn was born in Germany and has lived in France, in sunny California and of course, in Sweden and Germany. He shares his adventures with his wife.

Can you tell us about your role at MIMS, what are you working on now?

I am a group leader at MIMS and together with my amazing team we are interested in the interaction between diet, gut microbiota and
the mucosal barrier in the intestine. Specifically, we focus on mucus and antimicrobial peptides, which are two important defense systems of the gut to prevent infections and microbial translocation of the gut bacteria into the body. In the group we use in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro studies to better understand how the mucosal barrier and the microbiota influence each other, since it seems that a specific microbial community is required to keep the defense systems active and functional.

Intestinal defense is impaired in inflammatory bowel diseases and metabolic diseases and appears to depend on the gut microbiota, so we try to identify how the microbiota can be used to strengthen the intestinal barrier to prevent or treat these diseases.

Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Björn Ole Schröder

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Anne-Marie Fors Connolly

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Anne Marie Fors Connolly. 

I had a chat with Anne-Marie Fors Connolly who joined MIMS as a Clinical Research Fellow in 2020. She is a true cosmopolitan, with Swedish and Danish nationalities and some Irish blood in her veins as well. She has lived in Denmark and Ireland before moving to Sweden, and now she is living with her husband, and they are hoping to soon welcome a dog in their lives.

Portrait picture of Anne-Marie Fors Connolly working in the lab. Credit: Mattias Petterson.

Can you tell us about your role at MIMS, what are you working on now?

I am a MIMS clinical research fellow. I finished my medical internship last year and I am currently specializing in Clinical Microbiology. Right now, I have several large projects ongoing in parallel ranging from in vitro studies in the laboratory, to clinical determinants of infectious disease outcome to large scale multi-register population studies. My research interests are focused on translational projects that are clinically relevant, since I like to feel I am contributing to society with the knowledge that is generated. My MIMS postdoc, Dr. Chloé Jacquet, is focusing on determining the cleaving factors of the endothelial glycocalyx during HFRS and COVID-19. My clinical project student, Hanna Jerndal, is visualizing the real-time thickness of the endothelial glycocalyx in COVID-19 patients. The principal research engineer Osvaldo Fonseca-Rodriguez is quantifying the risk of acute cardiovascular complications in all COVID-19 patients, together with Ioannis Katsoularis a medical doctor and PhD student. We have the help of a statistician, Erling Lundevaller, who works part-time in my group.

Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Anne-Marie Fors Connolly

1st Umeå Interdisciplinary Symposium on Hypoxic Biology - 25 May 2021

The concentration of oxygen is one of the most important variables in many physiological and pathological processes. Do you care about oxygen levels in your experiments? Probably you should, and now you can at UHRF.

UHRF (Umeå Hypoxia Research Facility) is a new facility created to support research projects that require controlled oxygen conditions. We are co-financed by the Kempe Foundation and the Umeå Center for Microbial Research (UCMR) and you can find us at the Department of Molecular Biology.

1st Umeå Interdisciplinary Symposium on Hypoxic Biology - 25 May 8:45-16:45, online via Zoom

To introduce UHRF, we have organized an exciting virtual symposium to highlight the fundamental role of hypoxia in microbial ecology and infection, fungal biology, plant science, cancer, neurobiology and virology research. This first interdisciplinary symposium on hypoxic biology in Umeå is a joint initiative of UHRF (https://www.umu.se/en/uhrf) and UCMR (https://www.ucmr.umu.se/).

Read more to find out about the full program and registration.

Read more: 1st Umeå Interdisciplinary Symposium on Hypoxic Biology - 25 May 2021

Malaria researchers at MIMS, Ellen Bushell and Oliver Billker, reflect on World Malaria Day (25 April)

Written by Nóra Lehotai, MIMS

During the World Health Assembly in 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) Member States established 25th April as World Malaria Day. Fourteen years have passed, and malaria is still a global threat, claiming over 400, 000 lives every year, mostly killing children under 5 according to the WHO.

Malaria, an infectious disease, is caused by the unicellular protozoan Plasmodium parasites. These parasites infect the Anopheles mosquitos which become carriers of the parasites and transmit them to humans when the infected female Anopheles mosquito bites us. The parasites are injected from the mosquito’s salivary glands to the blood in the form of sporozoites, which travel to the liver (liver stage) where they multiply and transform into merozoites. The merozoite form invades our red blood cells (RBCs; blood stage), grows, and transforms into trophozoite, schizont and finally, into gametocyte form, which induces the malaria symptoms. The typical incubation period, from the bite until the first symptoms, is 11 days.

Read more: Malaria researchers at MIMS, Ellen Bushell and Oliver Billker, reflect on World Malaria Day (25...

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Sarah Lundgren

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Sarah Lundgren. Photo credits: Sarah Lundgren.

Sarah Lundgren joined MIMS in November 2020. She felt like coming home after living in the UK, Australia and Japan and nowadays she enjoys life in Umeå with her partner, Sam, and many more four legged friends. Enjoy the interview with Sarah!

Can you tell us about your role at MIMS, what are you working on now? 

My main responsibility in the Oliver Billker’s lab here at MIMS, is the management of our insectary. We rear mosquito colonies for our malaria research, and I make sure that our scientists have access to mosquitoes for their various experiments. Besides running the insectary, I am also responsible for coordinating the logistics, and making sure that everything runs smoothly.

Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Sarah Lundgren