Author Archives: ene057

Announcement of project funding for cooperation between Norway and developing countries

SIU announces grants of about 90 million NOK for five-year projects through Norwegian Partnership Program for Worldwide Academic Cooperation (NORPART). NORPART supports educational cooperation and student mobility between higher education institutions in developing countries and Norway.
The application deadline is 5 September 2016 at 3 pm Norwegian time. Continue reading

Invitation to follow-up meeting about the NORPART programme at UiB

The meeting is relevant for anyone who plans to apply for project funding (deadline 5 September).

The follow-up meeting on the NORPART programme will be held at Bergen Resource Centre for International Development, Jekteviksbakken 31 (Juss 2). Wednesday 15 June from 10:00 – 12:00.

The topic of the meeting is what characterizes a good application and we hope that the meeting can be a guide to writing the application and ensure that as many as possible of the UiB applications are granted support.

Plan for the meeting:
*Introduction and welcome
*Presentation of the programme, Hilde Granås Kjøstvedt, senior adviser SIU
*Study Administrative Matters which may affect an application by SA
*Discussion and exchange of experiences so far.

Registration by 13 June: https://skjemaker.app.uib.no/view.php?id=2170199

Best regards
Helge Bjørlo og Ana Veronica Cordova

Look to Israel?

Eystein 2A few weeks ago I heard a talk by Professor Ulf Landegren from Uppsala University about innovation and commercialization of research. Landegren himself has developed innovative molecular tools for measuring DNA, RNA and proteins in blood and tissues, resulting in a large number of patents and companies including Olink (www.olink.com).
Landegren also delved on how governments and universities facilitate innovation and presented a figure that shows proportion of GDP spent on R&D in relation to number of scientists and engineers. The figure was taken from an article in Nature Immunology (Kollias and Lambris, 2015) in which Greek researchers pointed out everything that did not work in Greece in general and in Greek research policies in particular. They mention, among other things, politically driven research with no clear strategy, no real evaluation of money spent, and when evaluations are performed they lead nowhere.Chart
Research and development (R&D) versus scientists / engineers per million. Size of the circle reflects the size of the amounts used for R&D.

Not surprisingly, Norway spends the lowest amount of money on R&D compared to our Nordic neighbors, despite broad political consensus that we should spend more. After all, we are “one of the richest countries in the world.” Another striking feature that puts us on what Landegren thinks is the wrong part of the ball park (with Greece), is that Norway has a high proportion of researchers per million inhabitants compared to available R&D funds. At first glance it may seem good to have many scientists, but limited research and innovation funds allocated to many scientists might produce mediocre results in many areas instead of groundbreaking research that can be commercialized and create new industries and jobs. In the opposite end of the field you find Israel as an outlier with a 4.3% share of GDP spent on R&D spread over about 1600 researchers per million. Perhaps there is a connection between this research policy and the fact that Israel produces more high-tech start ups than countries like Britain, Canada and China. Maybe we have something to learn by looking to Israel and our Nordic neighbors.

I wish you all a good weekend!

Eystein

 

The HSE Corner

Invitation to user training in EcoExposure – reminder

UiB and K2 will use EcoExposure as exposure registry for staff and students who may be exposed to substances that can cause serious illnesses over time. Bente-Lise Lillebø from the HSE department will visit K2 and teach us how we as users must register exposure.

Time: Thursday, 23 June, 12.30 to 13.30
Location: Auditorium 4, BB-building.

Welcome!

Information Meeting – Educational Programme for Postdocs

Postdoctoral Programme at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

This autumn the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry will initiate an educational programme for postdoctoral fellows. There is a need to provide the post-docs with expertise that will be important both for their future work in academia and in other jobs. An educational programme will increase the postdoctors’ expertise, help to create a community among post-docs and make the postdoctoral positions at the faculty more attractive. The programme will comprise different modules.

You are hereby invited to an information meeting about the programme, where there will be further information about the contents and scope. Note that this applies to all postdoctoral fellows, not only those who are funded by UoB.

Time: Thursday 23 June 2016 kl. 11-12
Venue: Birkhaugsalen (3. floor, Sentralblokken)

We encourage everyone to attend – this is exciting !!

Regards
Eyvind Rødahl
Vice Dean

Information meeting: FORNY2020 and BIOTEK2021

Have you considered to apply for funding from FORNY2020 or BIOTEK2021?

In 2015, the Norwegian Research Council allocated 300 million NOK through the funding programs FORNY2020 and BIOTEK2021. The programs target research projects with a commercial potential, and can be used to conduct testing, upscaling and continuation etc. The next deadline is 7th of September.

The Norwegian Research Council visits Bergen 21. of June to inform researchers about FORNY2020 and BIOTEK2021. This is an opportunity to get information and ask questions to advisers with first-hand information about the programs. Join our info meeting to get all the information you need. Continue reading

New Publications

Based on last week’s search for “Department of Clinical Science AND Bergen”. If you have publications which are not covered by this search, send the reference to irene.hjelmaas@uib.no.

In sepsis, 88% of bacteraemia patients are discriminated by unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis of 5 inflammatory mediators.
Mosevoll KA, Reikvam H, Fanebust HR, Flaaten H, Skrede S, Bruserud Ø.
Intensive Care Med Exp. 2015 Dec;3(Suppl 1):A881.

RareVariantVis: new tool for visualization of causative variants in rare monogenic disorders using whole genome sequencing data.
Stokowy T, Garbulowski M, Fiskerstrand T, Holdhus R, Labun K, Sztromwasser P, Gilissen C, Hoischen A, Houge G, Petersen K, Jonassen I, Steen VM.
Bioinformatics. 2016 Jun 10.

Short Stature: Comparison of WHO and National Growth Standards/References for Height.
Christesen HT, Pedersen BT, Pournara E, Petit IO, Júlíusson PB.
PLoS One. 2016 Jun 9;11(6):e0157277. d

Need of education for dry powder inhaler storage and retention – a patient-reported survey.
Norderud Lærum B, Telg G, Stratelis G.
Multidiscip Respir Med. 2016 Jun 8;11:21

Prognostic significance of S100A4 expression in stage II and III colorectal cancer: results from a population-based series and a randomized phase III study on adjuvant chemotherapy.
Boye K, Jacob H, Frikstad KM, Nesland JM, Maelandsmo GM, Dahl O, Nesbakken A, Flatmark K.
Cancer Med. 2016 Jun 8.

Disease activity is associated with reduced left ventricular systolic myocardial function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Midtbø H, Semb AG, Matre K, Kvien TK, Gerdts E.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Jun 7.

Regeneration of pancreatic insulin-producing cells by in situ adaptive cell conversion.
Chera S, Herrera PL.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2016 Jun 3;40:1-10.

Joint Teaching Day for Department of Clinical Science and Clinical Medicine (K1-K2)

Jone Trovik, portrett til disputasDo the name ” Enhet for læring” or ”Unit for learning” sound familiar to you? Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry has , in collaboration with Haukeland University Hospital, employed an educationalist to strengthen the medical teaching competence. How this can help us in our teaching, you will get to know at the Teaching Day 2016 on 12 October.

We will arrange the Teaching Day together with K1, and this time as a full day seminar rather than two half days, like we did last year. The new curriculum Medisin 2015 has now been in effect for one year. During the meeting we will have an actual demonstration of Team Based Learning as performed during autumn term. This as an inspiration of how we may incorporate this technique in our teaching (even without having to refurnish the auditoriums).

Digital presentation; making a presentation where you as a teacher may show pre-recorded combined pictures and sound is now a valid option. This may be short presentations for the students to go through before a ”regular” lecture in the auditorium or as a full recorded plenary lecture as an alternative for individual students to physical attend. The program used for this purpose is named TechSmith Relay (additional information available at relay.uninett.no). During the Teaching Day we will show examples and practical tips on how to use this system.

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Bergen has entered a collaboration with NTNU and UiT with the aim of strengthening the examination process by developing a huge common database of MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) for the Medical Curriculum. This to ensure examination uniformity throughout the different Faculties in Norway and give UiB the possibility to use MCQs developed in the other faculties. MCQ may well be used with a short clinical introduction (case description) followed by different questions regarding diagnose and treatment as well as basic knowledge (anatomy and physiology). To be able to develop GOOD MCQs we will build upon the experience from those in NTNU that have used this very structured during several years. We aim for all teachers being able to develop MCQs from their specific fields of expertise. This will ease the work of putting together an individual exam and the marking process will be automatic and less subjective!

Remember to set aside the 12th of October in your appointment schedule. Warmly welcome!

Jone

New Names

Marc VaudelIntroducing Marc Vaudel, researcher in bioinformatics. In May 2016 Marc began as a researcher at the KG Jebsen Center for Diabetes Research and the Center for Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine.
If you want to say hello, you can find him at the 2. floor in the lab building.

RCN – announcement of postdoctoral funding for collaborative projects with IARC

RCNThe Research Council of Norway (RCN) has published a call for proposals for a post-doctoral position in cancer research with a deadline of 7 September, 2016. The postdoctoral period is for a total of 3 years, of which the first two years will be at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, and the last year at the Norwegian applicant institution. The project will be thematically within IARC’s strategy, and the application will be written in dialogue with a research group at IARC.

Read the call here.
You can fill out the application form from 6 weeks before the deadline. By that time, we encourage prospective applicants to consult with scientists at IARC and prepare the application.

Feel free to spread this information.

Regards
RCN

Apply for BIOTEK2021 Optimization Funding !

BTOBergen Teknologioverføring (BTO) would like to inform you that it is now possible to apply for optimization funds from the Research Council of Norway (BIOTEK2021).Researchers with projects that may be relevant should consult with BTO as soon as possible and no later than 25 June, for initial project discussions.More information about BIOTEK2021 and the application process can be found here.

 

Best regards
Sunniva Ullavik Erstad
Communication Advisor
Bergen Teknologioverføring (BTO)
Mobile: +47 920 37 800
www.bergento.no

Translational Hematology Cluster (THC) arranges half-day-seminar 16 June

The topic this time is “Post Translational Modification and Signaling.” The time is 16 June, at 12, and the venue is Birkhaugsalen at the hospital. The seminar is open to everybody and there is no registration. Organizer is THC, by the committee members Frode Selheim, Astrid Olsnes Kittang and Rachel Brendsdal Forthun.

Attachment: Programme

New Publications

Based on last week’s search for “Department of Clinical Science AND Bergen”. If you have publications which are not covered by this search, send the reference to elin.opheim@uib.no.

A Common Variant at the 14q32 Endometrial Cancer Risk Locus Activates AKT1 through YY1 Binding.
Painter JN, Kaufmann S, O’Mara TA, Hillman KM, Sivakumaran H, Darabi H, Cheng TH, Pearson J, Kazakoff S, Waddell N, Hoivik EA, Goode EL, Scott RJ, Tomlinson I, Dunning AM, Easton DF, French JD, Salvesen HB, Pollock PM, Thompson DJ, Spurdle AB, Edwards SL.
Am J Hum Genet. 2016 Jun 2;98(6):1159-69.

A longitudinal follow-up of Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1.
Bruserud Ø, Oftedal BE, Landegren N, Erichsen M, Bratland E, Lima K, Jørgensen AP, Myhre AG, Svartberg J, Fougner KJ, Bakke Å, Nedrebø BG, Mella B, Breivik L, Viken MK, Knappskog PM, Marthinussen MC, Løvås K, Kämpe O, Wolff AB, Husebye ES.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2016 Jun 2:jc20161821.

A Subset of Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia Has Leukemia Cells Characterized by Chemokine Responsiveness and Altered Expression of Transcriptional as well as Angiogenic Regulators.
Brenner AK, Reikvam H, Bruserud Ø.
Front Immunol. 2016 May 25;7:205.

Live attenuated influenza vaccination in children induces B-cell responses in tonsils.
Mohn KG, Brokstad KA, Pathirana RD, Bredholt G, Jul-Larsen Å, Trieu MC, Lartey SL, Montemoli E, Tøndel C, Aarstad HJ, Cox RJ.
J Infect Dis. 2016 May 30.

Modeling psychiatric disorders: from genomic findings to cellular phenotypes.
Falk A, Heine VM, Harwood AJ, Sullivan PF, Peitz M, Brüstle O, Shen S, Sun YM, Glover JC, Posthuma D, Djurovic S.
Mol Psychiatry. 2016 May 31.

Uroguanylin Action in the Brain Reduces Weight Gain in Obese Mice via Different Efferent Autonomic Pathways.
Folgueira C, Beiroa D, Callon A, Al-Massadi O, Barja-Fernandez S, Senra A, Fernø J, López M, Dieguez C, Casanueva FF, Rohner-Jeanrenaud F, Seoane LM, Nogueiras R.
Diabetes. 2016 Feb;65(2):421-32.

Employment trends in K2

Per BakkeThe relationship between jobs funded by the anuum (the basic budget from the government) and those covered through external funding, and the relationship between technical-administrative and academic positions always awakens interest. Some believe that the number of administrative positions at K2 increases at the expense of scientific positions. In short, that there is too much administration and too little science. Recent figures that illustrate these conditions are now available for the period 2013 to 2016.

Figure 1 shows number of K2 administrative, technical and academic positions funded through the anuum in the specified period. There has been a decline in number of academic positions (from 60.7 in 2013 to 52.8 in 2016), a slight reduction in number of administrative positions (from 14.5 to 12.5) and no change in number of technical positions (2013: 36.4 and 2016: 36.3). The ratio of scientific to administrative positions was 4.2 in both 2013 and 2016.

The picture becomes a little different when we include the externally funded positions (Figure 2). There has been a marked increase in number of academic positions salaried externally, while administrative positions with this kind of funding has remained virtually unchanged. The two ways of financing combined are visualized in Figure 3. The conclusion is that the relationship between number of scientific and administrative positions is moving in the right direction. This development (Figure 3) is deliberate and intentional, but it cannot continue like this uninterrupted. There is a need to strengthen the economy section, and a new economy consultant starts at K2 over the summer. We will also employ a research consultant to strengthen applications for external funding.

Per

 

New Names

Øystein H JohansenWe present Øystein Haarklau Johansen, consultant and specialist in medical microbiology. Øystein is a new PhD student at K2, and is now starting a study on the diagnosis of diarrheal infections in children in Jimma, Ethiopia. If you want to find out more, or are going to Ethiopia, you can contact him at haarklau@gmail.com or +251 932514619.

Apply for FORNY 2020 Proof-of-Concept funding

BTOBergen Technology Transfer (BTO) would like to inform you that it is now possible to apply for proof-of-concept funding from the Research Council of Norway (FORNY2020).Researchers with projects that may be relevant should contact BTO as soon as possible and no later than June 25, for initial project discussions.

More information about FORNY2020 and the application process can be found here.