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MIMS highlights World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021

Text written by Nóra Lehotai.

This year, the motto of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, celebrated each year between 18-24 November, is “Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance”.

Antimicrobials do wonders. We have antiviral, antibiotic and antifungal drugs and vaccines available. They protect against or cure infections which otherwise might prove to be deadly for humans, animals and plants. Penicillins and tetracyclines, some of the most commonly used antibiotics, save millions of lives every year. The discovery of antimicrobials revolutionized not only medicine but our food supply as well. However, with their use, especially misuse, we awoke the defense machinery of these microbes and they learned how to adapt to these agents. Another important problem is that we only have antiviral drugs against a few of all viruses that cause diseases in humans. We lack antiviral drugs against many hundreds of viruses that cause diseases in humans.

Nordic collaboration received project grant for Research within post-COVID syndrome 2021 from the Swedish Research Council

Text written by Nóra Lehotai

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) has awarded 14 projects for Research within post-COVID syndrome 2021, with a total amount of 50 mio SEK. One of the funded projects was submitted by Dr. Anne-Marie Fors Connolly, MIMS clinical research fellow, researcher at the Department of Clinical Microbiology (Umeå University) and clinician at the University Hospital of Umeå.

“This project is a collaboration with Dr. Andrea Ganna (FIMM-EMBL), Dr. Hanna Ollila (FIMM-EMBL), Prof. Naja Hulvej Rod (Copenhagen University) and Dr. Elin Thysell (Umeå University)”, says Anne-Marie.

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Picture: Corona virus under electron microscope. Credit: Linda Sandblad, UCEM.

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet the MIMS Management Team

Written by Nóra Lehotai and Dominik Fischer. Picture credits are mentioned by each picture individually.

In this MIMS Spotlight Series interview, you get to know Dominik Fischer, science manager at MIMS, and Nóra Lehotai, project coordinator at MIMS, also the host of the MIMS Spotlight Series, who make the MIMS Management Team, in close proximity with the MIMS Leadership. The Team ensures efficient management of tasks inhouse, nationally and internationally as MIMS is the Swedish node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine.

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Picture: Nóra Lehotai, credit: Niklas Mähler, and Dominik Fischer, credit: Lena Lee.

MIMS researchers received funding from the Swedish Research Council for research period 2021-2026

svart liggande eng The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskaprådet, VR) announced on 28th October the awardees of total ~1.1 billion SEK fund within Medicine and Health research for the period of 2021-2026. Among the 252 winning projects, there are several current and former MIMS researchers.

Kemal Avican, member of Fällman group, received 6 mio SEK for his project, titled "Clarifying pathogen adaptation mechanisms with systems biology and artificial intelligence for new strategies to fight infections". With this financial support, Kemal is able to start his own research group at Umeå University.

Niklas Arnberg, affiliated professor at MIMS, received 2 mio SEK funding for "Evaluation of carbohydrate based antiviral compounds against pandemic viruses".

Vasili Hauryliuk, former MIMS group leader who is now relocated to Lund University, got awarded 7.2 mio SEK for his project, titled "The ribosome in distress: rescue workers".

MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Theerarat Kochakarn, Fai

Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Theerarat Kochakarn. Picture credits go to Theerarat Kochakarn or stated otherwise.

In this MIMS Spotlight Series interview, I chatted with Theerarat or Fai, as we know her. She left Thailand behind to join MIMS in March 2021 and do the job she truly enjoys.

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

I am a postdoc in Oliver Billker’s group. I am a bioinformatician and I am analyzing the single-cell and epigenetic data, coming from the malaria research group.