Written by Nóra Lehotai and Claire Sayers.
I interviewed Claire Sayers, who is a postdoctoral researcher in the Billker group. She left behind her parents in Tasmania, and twin brother in Western Australia, to join first the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK, then MIMS in Umeå in May 2019. What brings her so far away from home? It is Claire’s passion and openness for science and the world.
Picture: Calire Sayers. Credit: Claire Sayers.
Text after the original press release written by Ola Nilsson.
The female sex hormone oestrogen may have some protective effect against becoming seriously ill and dying in COVID-19, according to a registry study conducted at Umeå University. The study, now published in BMJ Open, was lead by Dr. Anne-Marie Fors Connolly, MIMS Clinical Research Fellow as the senior author, and Dr Malin Sund, professor at Umeå University, as the first author. If so, this could explain why men are more likely than women to die during the pandemic.
Picture: Dr Malin Sund (left) and Dr Anne-Marie Fors Connolly (right). Credit: Mattias Petterson.
Read more: Female sex hormone may protect against death in COVID-19
Written by Nóra Lehotai and Dhirendra Kumar Singh.
Dhirend joined MIMS in January of 2020 as a fresh postdoc, just escaping the travel limitations of the soon starting corona virus pandemic. He was born in India and for his PhD studies, he chose to study in a small but beautiful town, Szeged, in Hungary. He has been living also in Italy and for the next few years, he is enjoying living in Umeå, in Sweden.
Picture: Profile photo of Dhirendra Kumar Singh. Credit: private photo of Dhirendra Kumar Singh.
Read more: MIMS Spotlight Series: Meet Dhirendra Kumar Singh
Written by Nóra Lehotai. Photo: Anna Överby Wernstedt. Credit: Mattias Petterson.
From January 2022, Anna Överby Wernstedt is the new Deputy Director of MIMS, taking over this role from Prof. Maria Fällman.
“I am very much looking forward to being more involved and helping both the existing MIMS groups, its leadership, but also the new group leaders grow”-says Anna. “I know from my own personal experience that coming to Umeå as a new group leader, not knowing anyone and not knowing what it takes to be a group leader, is a jungle one can get lost in. I would like to be there for them to help.”
Anna Överby Wernstedt joined MIMS initially as one of the junior MIMS group leaders recruited according to the EMBL model. At the end of her term, she took a position at the Department of Clinical Microbiology as associate professor in virology. Her research is focusing on different aspects of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) to identify molecular pathways that determine how tick-borne encephalitis infects the host and spread through the brain.
Read more: Welcome Anna Överby Wernstedt as the next MIMS Deputy Director
Meet Linda Sandblad: Urging research to drive research infrastructure
Original article by Gretchen Repasky. Photo credit: Mattias Petterson.
The “Technologies Advancing Molecular Medicine” series highlights the people and activities in research technologies and core facilities in the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. In this article, we meet MIMS Team Leader, Linda Sandblad (featured on the picture), and learn about the world-class cryo-EM facility she and her team have developed at Umeå University.
Written by Nóra Lehotai and Sophia Hernandez.
In this episode of the MIMS Spotlight Series, I chatted with Sophia Hernandez. Sophia was born in the Philippines where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and has been traveling around the world gaining research experience in different labs in the USA, UK, Switzerland and Sweden. Her parents have both scientific background while her brother took interest in business. Sophia joined MIMS in August 2020 as a new member of the Bushell lab.
Can you tell us about your role at MIMS, what are you working on now?
I am a PhD student in Ellen Bushell’s lab. I formally started my PhD in February 2021. I am working on developing gene knock-down tools to study the malaria parasite. Knocking out essential genes result in the Plasmodium parasite’s death which makes it difficult to study these genes. For my project I am trying to develop a scalable conditional system so we can chose when to remove the gene.
Written by Nóra Lehotai.
December 1 is World AIDS Day. This day is the first ever global health day, remembered since 1988. This year’s motto by the WHO is “End inequalities. End AIDS.”
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. Two species of lentiviruses, belonging to the retrovirus virus family, infect humans, and with time, if left untreated, can cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. HIV infection is one of the major global health issues, with an estimate of 37.7 million people living with it. It is also a disproportionately distributing infection as more than two thirds of the infections are located in the African continent. There is no antiviral drug available to cure HIV infection.
In the frame of MIMS highlights World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021
Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Nabil Karah.
Nabil Karah is not only a physician and researcher, but also senior project advisor at the Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC, https://www.norwac.no/), residing in Oslo, Norway.In his connection with Umeå University, he is associated with Prof. Bernt Erik at the Department of Molecular Biology.
Infection researchers at Umeå University have discovered that the cholera bacterium can produce a toxin that is considered particularly important for the bacterium in its natural environments and for survival in competition with other organisms. Knowledge of the toxin means that there is another tool that can be used in the fight against cholera and similar diseases. The study is published in PNAS.
Read more: Important toxin helps the cholera bacterium to survive
In the frame of MIMS highlights World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021
Text written by Nóra Lehotai and Karsten Meier.
This extra episode of the MIMS Spotlight Series is part of "MIMS highlights World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021" article series. Karsten joined MIMS in November 2018 to start his PhD studies here. He has German nationality and has been living in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. His three brothers and parents are constantly cheering for him during running competitions and when he is not in the lab or out running, you can trust him with your pets, he will take good care of them.
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Emmanuelle has been awarded jointly with Jennifer Doudna the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the groundbreaking CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. She is a former group leader at MIMS, honorary doctor at Umeå University and former visiting professor at UCMR.
Movie by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (https://kaw.wallenberg.org/)
movie by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, with participation of scientists from MIMS and UCMR:
Or watch the original movie on:
https://kaw.wallenberg.org/
Oliver Billker in movie of Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation:
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https://kaw.wallenberg.org/
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