Research at Oslo University Hospital

This summer, the U.S.-based biotechnology company Mage Biologics Inc was formed. Up to USD 28 million will be jointly invested in the new company, in which an antibody technology has been in-licensed from Inven2, based on research carried out in Professor Jan Terje Andersen’s lab.
“Mage Bio is developing a tailored monoclonal antibody that will be administered non-invasively. This is a completely new and innovative approach to the treatment of a serious chronic disease that causes inflammation and ulcers on the inner lining of the large intestine. There is clearly a need for a new treatment option for this patient group, and it will mean a lot for the patients if Mage Bio succeeds,” says Jan Terje Andersen, head of "The Laboratory of Adaptive Immunity and Homeostasis", which is part of both the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital.

Professor Johanna Olweus, leader of the Experimental Immunotherapy Group at the Department of Cancer Immunology, has been selected for the final of the Cancer Grand Challenges as part of a global research team. If successful, the team hopes to contribute in giving cancer patients new therapies.

"Reaching the final in competition with top research teams from all over the world is incredibly exciting and a great recognition of the work of my group," says Johanna Olweus.

Dr. Özlem Türeci, Chief Medical Officer, BioNTech and Professor, Mainz University Medical Ctr & Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology visits Radiumhospitalet/OCC on November 16th to give a lecture.
Time and place: Nov 16 2023 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Radiumhospitalet/OCC, Kaare Norum Auditorium
NB: Registration necessary
Dr. Tureci will also give a talk at 1800 the same day in the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters with title: “Vaccines: mRNA vaccine technology - COVID-19, Cancer & beyond”.

In connection with the heart congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2023 in Amsterdam August 25-28, new and updated guidelines were presented on several areas. Completely new this year are the ESC's guidelines for acute coronary syndromes.
- Here, for the first time, we have combined guidelines for acute myocardial infarction without ST-elevation in the ECG (NSTEMI), acute myocardial infarction with ST-elevation (STEMI) and unstable angina, says Sigrun Halvorsen, professor at the University of Oslo and leader of the Ischemic Heart Disease research group at Oslo-CCHR in an interview with "Dagens Medisin". Halvorsen, who has been involved in the process as document review coordinator, says that the idea behind the merger is that the three states have a lot in common, both in terms of pathophysiology, how to make the diagnosis and how to treat them

OUS-CCC (Comprehensive Cancer Centre) is involved in the major EU grant CCI4EU - aimed at improving cancer infrastructures in Europe through developing or improving Comprehensive Cancer Infrastructures. The project involves 55 partners and has a duration of 36 months. Work Package 4 (WP4) is "Development of personalised capacity building (CB) tailored interventions" where OUS-CCC is co-lead together with Vall d´Hebron Hospital.

OUS-CCC initiated the WP4 participation with a visit to partner and co-lead Claudia Valverde at Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona. The entourage consisted of head of OUS-CCC Sigbjørn Smeland, Ingrid Jenny Guldvik, Anders Øverbye and Per Magnus Mæhle.

LMI (Legemiddelindustrien) is organising a health economics seminar on the 20th of September. This day is a meeting place for industry, authorities, academia and patient associations. Among the topics discussed are handling uncertainty and the priority setting white paper "prioriteringsmeldingen". 
Mathyn Vervaart, health economist at Clinical Trial Unit (CTU) at OUH and PhD Candidate at UiO, will speak about handling uncertainty with immature data and will then participate in a panel discussion. Hans Olav Melberg, researcher at CTU and professor at UiT, will be moderating several talks under the topic of: "Can we afford to leave out the societal perspective when introducing new measures?".
The seminar will be in Norwegian and is free to attend for public sector employees.

Information from UiO Growth House:

Spend a day with great science, innovation and networking opportunities at this meeting place for academia, the institute sector, the public sector, start-ups and industry.​ The innovation conference has sessions on life sciences and energy & environment and is a part of Oslo Innovation Week 2023.

Time and place: Sep. 27, 2023 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Oslo Science Park, Gaustadalléen 21, Oslo

Read more about the innovation conference and sign up! (www.uio.no)

Sigrun Halvorsen is among the most productive researchers in Norway, measured by publication points. In 2022, she was the woman who published the most. There were 24 people on the list before her, all men. Reasons for why only 11 of the 100 researchers on top of the list are women are discussed in a feature article in the magazine Khrono. Here, top researcher Sigrun Halvorsen, who has focused her research on acute heart attacks and atrial fibrillation, gives her opinions.
Halvorsen is head of the Department of Cardiology Ullevål, which has 200 employees and a budget of NOK 250 million. Now she will lead a large study where they will screen 20,000 patients over the age of 65 for atrial fibrillation. They have received NOK 20 million for the study. Her main job is clinical and administrative, and she has not really set aside any time for research.

All patients with suspected cardiomyopathy are recommended genetic testing in order to find a cause for the symptoms. This is one of the main messages in the first comprehensive European guidelines in the field.
This applies not least to dilated cardiomyopathy, where possible genetic causes may go under the radar, even though they can be present in up to every other case, says Kristina Haugaa, head of the Cardiogenetics and sudden cardiac death group at OUH, professor of cardiology at the University of Oslo and senior consultant at Karolinska University Hospital. She is co-author of the new guidelines on cardiomyopathies presented at the ESC Congress in Amsterdam, and has been interviewed about the findings for the newspaper "Dagens Medicin".