Oslo University Hospital scientists are involved in developing a novel "organ-on-a-chip" technology for advanced drug testing, that may lead to improved personalized treatment. This project is broadly presented in a recent feature article in the major newspaper Aftenposten, entitled "Drug testing on mini-organs can reduce the use of laboratory animals", written by Steven RAy Wilsen (UiO), Carl Henrik Gørbitz (UiO), Stefan Krauss (Dept. of Immunology, OUS and UiO) and Hanne Scholz (Dept. of Transplantation Medicine, OUS and UiO).

Read more

The Center for Heart Failure Research (CHFR) was established in 2002 and has since then promoted the integration of high quality research from bench to bedside. Center members have a broad range of expertise, covering state-of-the-art gene technology, protein function, integrative physiology in pathophysiological models and clinical studies. This collective knowledge and active research collaboration has resulted in more than 200 scientific publications each year.

The Annual Symposiums that began in 2003 have constituted an important platform for networking, introduction of up-and-coming academic talents, along with impressive research results, not to mention the presence of important international speakers shedding light on recent advancements in cardiovascular research.

Strengthening national research with the intent to promote scientific excellence has been an important mission for CHFR. Improving PhD programs and fostering young researchers is a way of reaching this goal. As part of this strategy, CHFR members initiated the establishment of the Norwegian PhD School of Heart Research (NORHEART) in 2012, together with key researchers from all major Universities in Norway.

The complete program from this year`s Symposium is available at heartfailure.no , while a report with pictures is provided by norheart.no.

Several researchers presented their latest studies at the annual Congress of European Society for Cardiology, the largest get-together of its kind. Elevating the Congress further this year was its conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology, putting the spotlight on global cardiovascular health, highlighting differences in prevalence, clinical manifestations, prevention strategies, diagnostic modalities and management of cardiovascular diseases around the world, as stated on the ESC webpage.

Our research collaborator in Japan, assistant professor Katsuji Inoue, MD, PhD, presented two very interesting studies, the first suggesting that left atrial reservoir strain can be used to predict elevated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, thus allowing discrimination between pre- and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension. The second study “Estimation of pulmonary artery pressure from right atrial strain and tricuspid regurgitation velocity” concluded that right atrial strain provides a semiquantitative measure of right atrial pressure, which can be used in combination with peak tricuspid regurgitation velocity to estimate systolic pulmonary artery pressure. This approach can be used as an alternative when the IVC method (estimation of right atrial pressure by echocardiographic evaluation of inferior vena cava diameter and collapsibility) is not available in cases with poor subcostal window.

Dr. Inoue also co-authored the study «Restricted left atrial motion as a result of atrial stiffening in patients with cardiac amyloidosis” that sought to determine whether left atrial (LA) reservoir strain with speckle tracking echocardiography could be used as a marker of LA stiffness in a derivation cohort. Furthermore, the hypothesis that LA reservoir strain could differentiate cardiac amyloidosis (CA) patients from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in an independent validation cohort was tested. The study concluded that LA reservoir function was fairly limited in patients with CA compared with HCM. Restricted LA motion might be related to atrial amyloid deposits or fibrosis, which potentially provokes atrial chamber stiffening.

The Inven2 idea prize 2019 was during the Cutting Egde Festival on October 24th awarded to a group of scientists from Oslo University Hospital for a new measurement system for assessing diabetic polyneuropathy. The researchers behind the idea are Christian Tronstad, Håvard Kalvøy, Ørjan G. Martinsen, Trond Jenssen, Jonny Hisdal, Inge Petter Kleggetveit and Ole Elvebakk. The award amounts to 250.000 NOK.

News article from inven2 (in Norwegian):
Og, vinneren er: en smartsokk for diabetikere!

Movie presenting the idea (in English):
Winner of idéprisen 2019 - Smart sock for preventing diabetic foot (via YouTube)

Read more

GE Vingmed Ultrasound together with Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, KU Leuven, University of Maastrich, Jessa Hospital in Belgium and Medaphor were recently awarded 1.6 million euros for a Marie Curie project that will utilize artificial intelligence to diagnose a number of heart disorders. Several of the international partners in the new project have previously been central to CCI's international research collaboration. Over the years, the network and the exchange of skills have been strengthened through joint workshops, studies presented at both national and international conferences and, not least, the exchange of students and professionals.

During the ACC 19th Scientific Sessions Meeting in New Orleans in March, our visiting researcher Associate Professor Katsuji Inoue from Japan, presented two abstracts titled “Left Atrial Strain as a Surrogate Marker of Atrial Chamber Stiffness” and “Reduced Left Atrial Reservoir Strain at Rest Predicts Elevated Left Ventricular Filling Pressure During Exercise”, where the latter was selected as a moderated poster under the non-invasive imaging session in addition to being introduced in the Echocardiography Highlights Session at the ACC 2019. 

Center for Heart Failure Research (CHFR) invites to a workshop on Diastolic Function in Heart Failure on Wednesday 7th of November at Ullevål Hospital, starting at 12'00 o'clock.
Holding the key note lecture will be Professor Frank A. Flachskampf, MD, PhD from University of Uppsala, Sweden.
Professor Flachskampf is part of a world-renowned clinical research team in ischaemic heart disease and his talk will address how imaging reflects pathophysiology in diastolic function assessment.
The final talk of the day will be by Associate professor Stig Urheim, MD, PhD from Haukeland University Hospital. His talk is titled "Exercise intolerance in heart failure patients with preserved EF (HFpEF) - not only diastolic impairment".

Sign up for the workshop     

Read the program

The Research Council of Norway reports that Norway exceeds two per cent share of Horizon 2020 contribution for the first time.  Figures from the EU show a steady increase in the number of Norwegian projects with successful proposals. “It would appear that Norwegian applicants have cracked the code and that we’re now surging ahead,” states John-Arne Røttingen, Chief Executive of the Research Council.
Of the more than 10 mill Euro going to Norwegian health authorities Oslo University Hospital receive 7.9 mill Euro and Helse Bergen 1.6 mill Euro.

Welcome to the next Oslo University Hospital (OUH) research seminar entitled
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Time: Monday, March 5th, 2018, 14:30 – 16:00
Place: Red Auditorium, Rikshospitalet, Sognsvannsveien 20, Oslo

Speakers: Joel Glover, Kamal Babikeir Eln Mustafa, Shadab Abadpour, Rick Siller

Six research groups were awarded for their excellent papers published during the first half-year of 2017 during a ceremony on December 16th. Each group received NOK 50.000 for use in further research. The prize winners gave short presentations of the main findings in their respective articles.

The six selected articles are of especially high quality, and they present important finding on both-short and long-term scales. The works reflect the good quality and the interdisciplinarity that characterises several research environments at Oslo University Hospital. The research is a fundamental condition for the institution to maintain and strenghten the quality in the patient treatment.

In order to stimulate excellent research and draw attention to the hospital's extensive research activity, Oslo University Hospital reward outstanding publications regularly.

Every half-year, six of the very best papers authored by scientists working on the hospital (first or last author must be affiliated to OUS) are selected. The nomination takes place through the research panel of each division. The final selection process is performed by an external committee.

The award winners are ranked equally.

Welcome to the next Oslo University Hospital (OUH) research seminar entitled "Medical imaging in cardiac research".

Time: Monday, October 10th, 2016, at 14:30 – 16:00.
Place: Green Auditorium, Rikshospitalet, Sognsvannsveien 20, Oslo.

Speakers: Ivar Sjaastad, Emil Espe, Einar Hopp, Thor Edvardsen and Espen Remme.

The Institute for Surgical Research celebrates it's 50 years anniversary on Thursday 13 October 2016. The seminar takes place at Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, in Store Auditorium, starting at 10.15.

Lecturers are Håvard Attramadal, Hanne Scholz, Gunnar Tufveson, Pål Dag Line, Lester Lau, Otto Smiseth, Thor Edvardsen, Iver A. Langmoen, Krishna Bhat, and Lars Nordsletten.

See the program

A project initiated by post doc Einar Vik-Mo and professor Iver Langmoen from the Department of Neurosurgery at OUS has drawn interest from Norwegian media. The major newspaper Aftenposten has recently presented his project in a feature article entitled "Norwegian physicians tailor make chemotherapy to each tumor".

Prospective isolation of tumour initiating cells is possible using tumour specific antigens. Vik-Mo, Langmoen and collaborators are currently working on the isolation and characterization of such tumour initiating cells using primary cell cultures, both as floating neurosphere assays and adherent cultures, and combining this with FACS and MACS to prospectively isolate the putative tumour initiating cells.

Read more