Daily Archives: Friday November 1st, 2019

A little more about the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology 2019

This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology was awarded to William G. Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza for the discovery of how cells sense oxygen and adapt their metabolism to different oxygen levels. Their findings are of great clinical relevance and explain, among other things, how erythrocyte formation is regulated and the mechanism for the development of various cancers as also discussed in the K2-editorial in Week 42.

I think it is interesting that all the three award winners are clinicians and have approached the problem of oxygen sensing from different angles. The paediatrician Semenza and the nephrologist Ratcliffe studied erythropoietin regulation, while oncologist Kaelin’s approach was to understand a rare tumour syndrome characterized by stress hormone-producing tumours in the adrenal medulla (phaeochromocytoma), angioblastomas in the central nervous system, and multifocal renal cancer (von Hippel Lindau’s syndrome (VHL)). He found that the VHL protein forms a complex with hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1a) that leads to degradation of HIF1a. Lack of VHL generates a hypoxic signal eventually leading to angiogenesis and tumour formation.

What can we learn from them? Perhaps one message is that it is difficult to predict where the next major medical breakthrough will come from, and that too much ear marking of research resources in specific directions (read research programs) is less fruitful than letting scientists choose their own problems to study. As one research leader put it: “We don’t care what you do; we want you to be one of the leaders in your field”. Another tenet is the power of translational research in which studies of rare monogenic diseases can lead to breakthroughs in the understanding of basic physiological mechanisms that, in turn, open up to the development of new exciting therapies.

Let this year’s Nobel Prize be an inspiration for good translational research

Eystein

(Norwegian) Forespørsel om tema for bacheloroppgaver i human ernæring

Kjære kollegaer og stipendiater,

Våren 2020 skal studenter på bachelorprogrammet i human ernæring skrive en bacheloroppgave. Oppgaven skal utgjøre 15 studiepoeng, som tilsvarer ca. 6 uker fulltidsarbeid. Målet med oppgaven er å gi studentene erfaring med ernæringsvitenskapelig arbeid, i form av planlegging, gjennomføring og presentasjon av et vitenskapelig prosjekt. Oppgaven kan være en begrenset empirisk oppgave eller en litteraturoppgave (review). Litteraturoppgaver er anbefalt, og den skal helst være en ‘systematisk review’. Studentene får opplæring i litteratursøk og skriveteknikk som en del av emnet. Veiledningen vil i hovedsak fokusere på vitenskapelig innhold. Erfaringer fra i fjor viste at det er lurt å finne et begrenset tema med ukontroversiell litteratur.

I den forbindelse ønsker Programutvalg i ernæring forslag til ernæringsrelaterte temaer for bacheloroppgaver. Studentene begynner på oppgaven i januar 2020. Innlevering av oppgaven er fastsatt til tidlig i mai, og muntlig eksamen (inntil 30 minutt med presentasjon og diskusjon) skal holdes i slutten av mai.

Emnebeskrivelse for bacheloroppgaven finner dere her.

Programutvalget ber om en kort beskrivelse (max. 1/2 side) av aktuell(e) bacheloroppgave(r) innen 4. januar. Bruk gjerne denne malen og send den på e-post til sigrun.stefnisdottir@uib.no

Oppgavene vil bli presentert for studentene på et møte tidlig i januar 2020. Det er ønskelig at veileder er tilstede på presentasjonen.

Informasjon om bachelorprogrammet finner dere på web her.

Hilsen Programutvalget i ernæring

(Norwegian) Forespørsel om tema for masteroppgaver i klinisk og human ernæring

I forbindelse med at studentene på masterprogrammene i klinisk og human ernæring skal skrive en masteroppgave, etterlyser Programutvalget for ernæring nye masteroppgaver i ernæring. Masteroppgaven skal gi 60 studiepoeng og er beregnet til to semester fulltidsstudium. Studentene velger oppgave innen april 2020, og arbeidet med oppgaven blir høsten 2020 – våren 2021. Studentene skal få oppnevnt maks to veiledere i forbindelse med arbeidet med masteroppgaven. Enten hoved- eller biveileder må være tilsatt ved Universitetet i Bergen.

Programutvalget ber om en kort beskrivelse (max. 1 side) av forskergruppe og aktuell(e) masteroppgave(r) så snart som mulig. Bruk gjerne denne malen og send på e-post til sigrun.stefnisdottir@uib.no. Oppgavene vil bli presentert for studentene på et møte 21. november, kl. 13-16. De som har sendt inn oppgaver tidligere år, men fortsatt ønsker studenter i tilknytning til prosjektet, bes sende inn oppgavene på nytt.

Programutvalget nedsetter en komité som skal godkjenne alle tema før de presenteres for studentene. Dersom oppgaven er av klinisk karakter bør det være en kliniker som er veileder. Det tillates normalt maks to studenter tilknyttet et prosjekt. Emnebeskrivelsen for masteroppgaven i de to masterprogrammene finnes her:
http://www.uib.no/emne/NUCLI395
http://www.uib.no/emne/NUHUM395

Vennligst spre forespørselen til aktuelle ved din avdeling/institusjon. Ta kontakt med leder for programutvalget, Jutta Dierkes: jutta.dierkes@uib.no eller Sigrun Stefnisdottir: sigrun.stefnisdottir@uib.no dersom dere har spørsmål.

Hilsen Siri

CCBIO Junior Scientist Symposium November 7th

We have the pleasure of inviting you to our CCBIO Junior Scientist Symposium (JUSS) November 7th, 2019!
The keynote speaker, Carina Strell from Karolinska Intitutet, Sweden, will present how the microenvironment affects cancer progression and treatment response. In addition, we will hear interesting studies from local junior researchers. Join us for a perfect occasion for professional input and networking!
Open for all and free, including lunch.
When: November 7th 2019 10.00-14:00
Where: Conference room, BB-building (across the hall from the auditoria)
Program: can be found in this poster
Registration: At ccbiojuss.no Registration deadline: November 5th at noon.
Postdocs Kenneth Finne and Cornelia Schuster are chairs and can be contacted for questions.

MSD Lunch and Learn Seminar Invitation November 7th

Learn about the Mesoscale multiplex immunoassay platform. The platform offers solutions ranging from validated assays for research & clinical biomarkers to open platform assays allowing you to create your own multiplex/singleplex assays in Human, Rodent and NHP.

Date: Thursday, November 7th, 2019
Time: 11:30-12.30
Location: Seminar room 5.1/5.2, Laboratory building, 5th floor

Registration not needed – but if you sign up, no later than November 5th, we will provide a sandwich.
Registration: Janne Pleidrup Andersen

More information here.

Invitation to Single Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics Scientific Seminar November 19th

The Core facility for flow cytometry has received a 10x Chromium Controller instrument for single cell sequencing. The instrument is available for use through their booking system. In conjunction with the purchase, 10x will host a scientific seminar for researchers with an interest in single cell Gene Expression analysis and spatial transcriptomics.

Single cell sequencing has revolutionized life science research leading to a deeper understanding of biological processes in health and disease. Rapid technology advances are enabling large-scale projects for resolving single cell populations from 100s to millions of cells in a given study.

In this seminar we will introduce a combined workflow with optimized sample preparation and demonstrate a variety of single cell applications.

For registration and more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/single-cell-and-spatial-transcriptomics-scientific-seminar-bergen-norway-registration-77985951079

Date and Time
Auditorium 4, BB-building
Tue, November 19, 2019
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

New publications

Here are recent publications with contributions from K2 based on last week’s search on PubMed (and optionally articles that have not been included in previous lists). This time the list includes in total 17 recent publications. The entries appear in the order they were received from NCBI. If you have publications that are not included in this or previous lists, please send the references to Hege F. Berg.

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