The "Domore!" project presented by national newspaper VG

The "DoMore!" project headed by Håvard E. Danielsen, director of the Institute for Cancer Genetics and Informatics, was recently presented in a feature article in the major national Norwegian newspaper VG.

By examining 20.000 cancer tumor samples from more than 7000 patients and using artificial intelligence the scientists look for patterns that may say something about a patient's prognosis. They focus on the three most common forms of cancer - lung, colorectal and prostate cancer. Results from the project har recently been published in Lancet Oncology (journal impact factor 36.4).

The DoMore! project was selected in 2016 as one of the Norwegian Research Council’s Lighthouse projects to solve large societal challenges using cutting-edge technologym and will run until 2021.

Dag Berild, head of the "Study group for rational antibiotic use" at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Division of Medicine was appointed "Researcher of the Month" for July 2018 by the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst RHF).

Antibiotic resistance is now one of the biggest threats to public health in the world. Dag Berild was among the first to warn against the wrong use of antibiotics.
Berild's research activities is presented in a feature article published on the home page of Helse Sør-Øst.

Postdoctor Andreas M. Hoff in the Skotheim group at the Department of Molecular Oncology spent a year of his postdoc in the lab of Matthew Meyerson at the Broad Institute and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA. As shared first-author, he publishes together with his colleagues at the Meyerson lab in the prestigous journal Cell (impact factor 30).

Professor Harald A. Stenmark, head of the "Cellular membrane dynamics" research group at the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Institute for Cancer Research, has been given the prestigious University of Oslo Research Research Award for 2018.

In their statement the prize committee wishes to acknowledge one of the University's most prominent researchers in cancer research and cell biology, who has built an internationally renowned research environment that delivers innovative and original research helping to put the University of Oslo on the world map.

The research award will be distributed during the annual UiO party on September 2nd. Prizes for education, communication and innovation will also be given out during this event, each of the four awards amounting to 250.000 NOK.

The South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority hereby announces a call for applications for research projects and research activities starting in 2019.

The total funding available for this call is approximately 100 million Norwegian kroner.

Application deadline is Tuesday, September 5th 2018 kl. 16:00.

Therese Seierstad from Mona-Elisabeth Revheim's "Functional and Molecular Imaging" research group at the Division of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine was appointed "Researcher of the Month" for June 2018 by the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst RHF). Her research is mostly focused on prostate cancer and breast cancer. As head of research at the division she is also involved in research projects not directly related to cancer treatment.
Seierstad's work is presented in a feature article published on the home page of Helse Sør-Øst.

An article by senior scientist Lene Malerød and her co-workers in Kaisa Haglund’s project group shows how the mitotic spindle achieves its correct orientation during cell division.

The article ”Centrosomal ALIX regulates mitotic spindle orientation by modulating astral microtubule dynamics” was published online on June 1 in The EMBO Journal and elucidates a previously unrecognized biological role of the multifunctional adaptor protein ALIX during cell division. Specifically, ALIX is recruited to centrosomes, where it promotes correct mitotic spindle orientation at metaphase during both asymmetric and symmetric cell division, by facilitating the formation of astral microtubules.

Three scientists received awards for their outstanding research at a ceremony taking place at Oslo University Hospital June 8th.

The major prize - the "Excellent Researcher Award" - went to professor Arne Klungland.

Kristina H. Haugaa and Lars Tjelta Westlye both received the "Early Career Award".

The prize money - 300.000 and 150.000 NOK respectively - is earmarked for research activities. This prize is distributed anually in order to honour excellent scientific work.

WiBEC (Wireless In-Body Environment Communications) is a Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network and trains 16 young researchers in coordinated manner by academia, industry and medical centres. WiBEC is led by Professor Ilangko Balasingham at the Intervention Centre at Oslo University Hospital.

WiBEC has been identified by the Innovation Radar - a European Commission initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation framework programmes. 

WiBEC’s main objective is to provide high quality and innovative doctoral training to develop the wireless technologies for novel implantable devices that will contribute to the improvement in quality and efficacy of healthcare. These are innovations that are actively exploring value creation opportunities and rated by the European Commission as Excellent Science.

The BETAMI trial - "BEta-Blocker Treatment after Acute Myocardial Infarction in revascularized patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function" - has been funded with 15 mill NOK from Klinbeforsk - the national "Clinical therapy research in the specialist health services" program. The trial is led by Dan Atar, head of research at the Division of Medicine and leader of the "Ischemic Heart Disease" group.
In the 80's and 90's it was considered important to administer beta blockers to avoid future cardiac deaths and new heart attacks. "But huge progress has been made, among other things, the blockage of blood vessels is very effective. We do not know if beta-blocking is still necessary", says Atar, who has recently been interviewed by "Dagens Medisin".

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.

The paper entitled “Enhanced targeting of triple-negative breast carcinoma and malignant melanoma by photochemical internalization of CSPG4-targeting immunotoxins” by Marius S. Eng et al. was a joint academic-industry effort including collaboration with the Ferronel lab at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, the Rosenblum lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Mælandsmo lab at Oslo University Hospital (OUS), the Imaging Facility at the Institute for Cancer Research (OUS) and PCI Biotech. The manuscript was published in the May issue of Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences (The Royal Society of Chemistry), which is a society-owned journal publishing high quality research on all aspects of photochemistry and photobiology.

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

Six research groups were awarded for their excellent papers published during the second half-year of 2017 on May 25th in the large auditorium at Ullevål sykehus. 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.

Findings from scientists at the Research Institute of Internal Medicine published in the prestigious "Journal of the American College of Cardiology" (journal impact factor 19.9) has received attention.  Martin Kummen and Marius Trøseid are first and last authors on the publication, entitled "Gut Microbiota Signature in Heart Failure Defined From Profiling of 2 Independent Cohorts".

The Norwegian popular science web site "forskning.no" has recently written about the results, and interviewed senior author Marius Trøseid about the linking of gut bacteria flora to chronic heart failure.

Theodossis Theodossiou and Kristian Berg from the Photochemical internalisation (PCI) group at the Department of Radiation Biology at the Institute for Cancer Research have been funded by the Future and Emerging Technology (FET) program under the Excellent Science section of the Horizon 2020. The FET program funded 11 projects out of 820 grant applications (1,4 % success rate) and the proposal by Theodossiou and Berg was rated as number 6. The  project is designed to develop treatment of aggressive brain tumors such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
The major national newspaper VG recently (May 3rd) published a feature article about the supported project, entitled "Pioneering Norwegian technology: aiming to kill aggressive brain tumors by producing light in the brain."

Fredrik Schjesvold, leader of the "Oslo Myeloma Center" research group at the Department of Haematology at Oslo University Hospital, has recently been interviewed by the national broadcasting corporation NRK for the the popular radio programme "Ekko", under the column "Meet a researcher". Schjesvold has also been interviewed for an international multiple myeloma podcast. Furthermore, a video presenting the Oslo Myeloma Center has been produced.

In a recent OUS research blog article Johan Steineger and Sinan Dheyauldeen from the Department for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery explain how they came to treating patients with Morbus Osler - a rare autosomal dominant disorder that affects blood vessels throughout the body (causing vascular dysplasia) and results in a tendency for bleeding. - with the anti-angiogenic medicine Avastin, which is often used with chemotherapy to prevent tumor growth.

Espen Melum, head of the "Experimental Hepatology" group at the Research Institute of Internal Medicine, under the Division of Surgery, Inflammatory Diseases and Transplantation, was appointed "Researcher of the Month" for March 2018 by the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst RHF).
Melum's research group studies why inflammation occurs in the bile ducts, which in turn can lead to liver failure. His work is presented in a feature article published on the home page of Helse Sør-Øst.

Welcome to the next Oslo University Hospital (OUH) research seminar entitled
Precision medicine in complex diseases

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

Speakers: Yvonne Böttcher, Hanne Flinstad Harbo, Torbjørn Omland, Kåre I. Birkeland, Rune A. Høglund.

Professor Harald Stenmark, head of the "Cellular membrane dynamics" group at the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, receives ERC Advanced Grant for the second time. Only two other Norwegian researchers, Professor Edvard Moser (NTNU) and Professor Kenneth Hugdahl (UiB), have received ERC Advanced Grant twice in their careers.

The research project "Coincidence detection of proteins and lipids in regulation of cellular membrane dynamics (CODE)" will last for five years and has been awarded 2.5 million Euro.