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Oliver Billker appointed new Director of MIMS

Picture of Oliver Billker_private[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

Gemma Atkinson IMG 2401 562[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

[vasili hauryliuk 1402018-03-02] 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

Jacques Dubochet, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2017, visited the cryo-EM Facility at UCEM on 13 December 2017, together UCEM-Director Linda Sandblad and Lars-Anders Carlson, researcher at WCMM.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

Artic Tbc Conference 25 26 JanWelcome 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.

Nobel Laureate Jacques Dubochet visits Umeå University

19645 Nobelbesok 960x342 32

NCMM Director to join Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University

57 Kjetil Tasken speaker news[2017-11-09) Director of NCMM, Professor Kjetil Taskén, has been appointed as the Head and Director of Institute for Cancer Research Oslo University Hospital (OUH). Professor Taskén will start his new position on 1 January 2018. Kjetil is the founding Director of NCMM, and until September 2017 also held the speaker position for the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. Since starting as the Director of the Biotechnology Centre of Oslo in 2003, and becoming Director of NCMM in 2008, he has overseen the growth, evolution and merging of the two organisations into the highly successful research centre that exists today.

Read more: NCMM Director to join Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University

MIMS and UCMR PI:s receive funding from the Swedish Research Council

[2017-11-03] Several Researchers at MIMS and UCMR are among 40 people at Umeå University who will receive funding from The Swedish Research Council (VR). In total VR funded 569 application out of 2904 applications for both for Medicine and Health and for Natural and Engineering Sciences. The Swedish Research Council published its decision on the two calls on October 26th and October 31st on the research council’s website (www.vr.se).

Read more: MIMS and UCMR PI:s receive funding from the Swedish Research Council

Emmanuelle Charpentier took the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

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/)

Battling antibiotic resistance

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/

Research about infectious diseases:

Oliver Billker in movie of Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation:
Or watch the original movie on:
https://kaw.wallenberg.org/

footer all slides 2014-02-06


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