Author Archives: ijo013

New names

14256310_1097799206981513_190336705_nIntroducing Christina Skaar Saghaug. Christina started in September 2016 as a PhD student at K2. She is going to work with genes for antibiotic resistance in the parasite Giardia lamblia, under the guidance of Kurt Hanevik and Nina Langeland. If you wish to say hello, you can find her in the 5th floor of the laboratory building.

2017 Mexican Government Scholarships for International Students

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) invites foreign citizens who are interested in studying for a specialization, master’s degree or doctorate, conducting graduate or postdoctoral research, or taking part in an undergraduate or graduate-level academic mobility program, to participate in the 2017 Mexican Government Scholarship Program for International Students.

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New framework agreement for purchases and delivery of flowers

UiB has signed a new framework agreement for purchases and delivery of flowers in connection with our employee anniversaries, PhD defenses and other markings where the presentation of flowers is part of the even.

The framework agreement was signed with Botanica Flowers AS who might be familiar to most.
The agreement is active, and it created a new directory that you find in the BasWare PM with prices and pictures of the different options.

The agreement can be found here: https://sourcing.amesto.com/Avantra/Customer/Bergen/Modules/Contract/Card/Default.aspx?ContractId=3207&search=blomster
Botanica’s website can be found here: http://www.botanica.no/

We remind you that it is important that we are loyal to the framework agreement when ordering flowers.

Employee appraisal

bakke0x2c_per_0x2830x29It is time for the annual employee appraisal. All employees at K2 have the right to have an annual appraisal with a supervisor at the department. The appraisal is important, primarily for the individual who has the opportunity to take up current issues related to his/her work situation as well as topics such as skills upgrading and career. The supervisor has the opportunity to follow up on the individual’s work and matters relating to it. Hopefully the appraisal will help enhancing the working environment at K2. In practical terms, I will have appraisals with all the leaders of the research groups at K2 and all scientists engaged in full positions. Each research group leader will not necessarily personally have an appraisal with every member of his/her group, but should make sure that the members of the group are offered an appraisal. The plan is that everybody at K2 should have been offered an appraisal during the autumn.

Per

New names

14194319_1093244330770334_1149385197_nIntroducing Linn Iversen, new finance officer at K2 from September 1st  2016. Linn will predominantly work for Breast Cancer Group led by Professor Per Eystein Lønning. Every Monday, she will have her office in the 8th floor of the lab building, so please stop by to say hello.

New publications from Group G14

qupic-2Qu Y, Gharbi N, Yuan X, Olsen JR, Blicher P, Dalhus B, Brokstad KA, Lin B, Øyan AM, Zhang W, Kalland KH, Ke X. Axitinib blocks Wnt/β-catenin signaling and directs asymmetric cell division in cancer.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Aug 16;113(33):9339-44. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1604520113. Epub 2016 Aug 1. PMID: 27482107

This publication was selected to be highlighted in the Editors’ Choice
section of Science Signaling, the weekly journal from the publisher of

Science magazine: http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/9/442/ec192

This publication also has been selected for a Feature editorial that will be published in the journal Cell Cycle.

Call for applications: CUHK Inbound Research Mobility Scheme for 2016-17

CUHK is a very reputable research university in Hong Kong / China with excellence of research and infrastructure. A lot of UiB researchers collaborate with CUHK, both bilaterally and multilaterally through Wun. As Wun member university, the University of Bergen one of CUHK priority international partners and UiB researchers administered thereby the opportunity to apply for funding for research stays at CUHK through their Inbound Research Mobility Scheme.

This is an opportunity for UiB researchers to apply for funding for research at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) during the 1st half 2017

New names

Reidun ÆsøyIntroducing Reidun Æsøy, Ph.D. in molecular biology. Reidun began in August 2016 as a researcher in the group of Prof. Lars Herfindal. If you want to say hello, you can find her in the floor 9 in lab building.

INVITATION: Symposium in the memory of Helga B. Salvesen titled “Biomarkers in Female Cancer”, 14th September 2016

HelgaWe hereby invite you to attend the local symposium in the memory of Helga B. Salvesen to be held 14th September 2016 in Store Auditorium at Haukeland University Hospital. The symposium is titled “Biomarkers in Female Cancer” and is a joint effort between CCBIO and the K2 department at UiB and Kvinneklinikken at Helse Bergen. The aim of the symposium is to honor Helgas memory by focusing on the state of the art within research on gynecologic cancer as well as younger researchers efforts within the field.

As you can see from the program (link below), we have secured international, national and local speakers. There will also be a combined lunch and poster session in the Aula of the Building for Basic Biological Research (BBB), where younger researchers can present their work. The symposium is open to all and free of charge, so please feel free to forward this invitation.

We would like to underline that all participants need to register through the below link within 8th September 2016. Please note that after pressing “Continue” and reviewing the registration you need to press “Register”. You are not registered before you have received the confirmation.

Questions: To CCBIOs Administrative Leader Geir Olav Løken on geir.loken@uib.no

We hope that Helgas memorial symposium will be an inspiring event to all participants!
On behalf of CCBIO and its partners at K2 and Kvinneklinikken,

Public PhD Defence, Week 36

midtbo_09_09Helga Bergljot Midtbø will defend her PhD thesis on Friday, September 9th, 2016
Trial lecture: Friday, September 9th, 2016 09:30
Topic:  “The bearing of inflammation on cardiovascular disease. Present knowledge and future Challenges”
Place:  Stort auditorium, Haukeland Universitetssykehus
Public defense: Friday, September 9th, 2016 11:15
Place:  Stort auditorium, Haukeland Universitetssykehus
Title of dissertation:  “Subclinical cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Relation to disease activity and cardiovascular risk factors”
1st opponent: Associate professor Giuseppe Schillaci, Universitetet i Perugia, Italia
2nd opponent: Professor Karin Manhem, Universitetet i Gøteborg, Sverige

Press release (in Norwegian)

Innovation adds value

helgeIt is common to think that the end product of a research project are the publications that come out of the project. Many would add that the popular scientific dissemination of the project results is also part the end product: dissemination provides added value of the project results by demonstrating their utility to the society.

Innovation may also contribute to added value and increased society benefit. Commercialization of a research project is to move from possibility to reality: to offer new diagnostics and therapies to the society, not only lay the their foundation. Innovation is like research a creative process, but with a slightly different focus more geared towards market-oriented application. Both the Western Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Vest) and the ERC funding institutions evaluate the innovation potential of a project in the funding application processes, and the Western Norway Regional Health Authority also awards an Innovation Prize.

kineThe Department of Clinical Science (K2) wants to strengthen innovation at the Department by setting goals for innovation in the strategic plan, but also through an established partnership with Bergen Technology Transfer Office (BTO) where a counselor from BTO, Kine Gregersen, will be available in the K2 expedition in the 8th floor every 2. and 4th Tuesday of the month. We hope you find an opportunity to reach out to her. Conversely, she will actively try to find an opportunity to consult with someone in your research group. Please embrace such an initiative if you do not take action yourself, it can pay off!

Helge Ræder

PhD course: Course in clinical studies including ICH-GCP

forskerskolen_i_klinisk_medisinCourse in clinical studies including ICH-GCP (GCP901) is a very relevant course for PhD students doing clinical Research
At this course you will be given a thorough introduction to:

  • ICH-GCP and laws relevant to clinical research including the Health Research Act and related regulations ICH-GCP
  • on the design and conduct of clinical trials and development of some applications that are relevant to clinical research
  • Different units inform what they can assist with in the implementation of clinical trials
  • The importance of ethical considerations in clinical trialsThe PhD course GCP901 is a 1 ECTS course part of the Bergen Postgraduate School of Clinical Medical Research. It is led by Professor Eyvind Rødahl and Professor Thomas Halvorsen. NB! This is same course which was previously called “Good clinical practice (ICH-GCP) for PhD candidates”.

Dates:
Day 1: 26th of September (half day)
Day 2: 29th of September (whole day)
Day 3: 7th of October (half day)

Registration: at the Studentweb by 1st of September
If you have any questions regarding the course please feel free to contact:

Course content: Eyvind Rødahl – Eyvind.Rodahl@uib.no , Thomas Halvorsen-   thomas.halvorsen@helse-bergen.no or Stefan Johansson – Stefan.Johansson@uib.no Administrative matters: Solveig Lund Witsø Solveig.Witso@uib.no

NGS application seminar Thursday September 8th

Regarding our new Illumina HiSeq4000 next-generation sequencing system the Genomics Core Facility is happy announce a NGS application seminar Thursday September 8th.

Time: September 8th, 13.00 – 16.00.
Place: Meeting room 5.1/5.2, 5th floor Laboratory building.

Please see the invitation here for more information on the program and for registration to the seminar.

K1/K2 seminarseries 2016

We wish to invite you all to the next K1/K2 Seminar in 2016. Tuesday August 30th!

Grant Brinkworth -PhD, associate professor, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO – Food and Nutrition, Adelaine, AUS
Long-term health and safety effects of Very Low Carbohydrate Diets for Type 2 Diabetes Management:
Current clinical practice guidelines for type 2 diabetes management advocate a diet low in fat and high in unrefined carbohydrates. However, this recommendation has been questioned following advancements in understanding that carbohydrate restriction and higher intakes of protein and unsaturated fat improve blood glucose control and cardiovascular disease risk.
This presentation will discuss the findings of a large, long-term, well-controlled, randomized controlled clinical study comparing the effects of either a traditional high-carbohydrate diet or a very-low-carbohydrate, high-unsaturated-fat diet while participating in a structured exercise program on multiple health outcomes, including glycemic control, cardiovascular disease risk, renal function, and mental wellbeing and performance.
Findings indicate that independent of any change in weight, the blood glucose profile improves substantially in the very-low-carbohydrate group. The diet is well tolerated and the need for medication is also reduced to a greater extent than the traditional high-carbohydrate dietary approach.

Time: Tuesday August 30th, 14:30 – 15:30
Pace: Stort Auditorium, 3 etasje, Sentralblokken
Chair: Simon Dankel, Dep. Of Clinical Science, UiB

Pizza is served between 14:15 -14:30
Everyone is welcome.

 

Research award and honor of one of our PhD candidates

terjeIn connection with the annual Scandinavian Conference in Cardiothoracic Surgery in Reykjavik August 17th -19th of this year, our PhD candidate cand.med. Terje Aass nominated and won the award “C. Walton Lillehei, Ph.D., M. D. Young Investigators Award “of $ 5,000 for his lecture:

Myocardial energy status and ultrastructure with polarizing and depolarizing cardioplegia arrest in a porcine model.

Terje Aass is chief physician at Thoracic Surgery Section, Department of Cardiology, Haukeland University Hospital, and is also working on a PhD project related to Cardiovascular Research Group at K2. The project is an animal experimental study of a new kardioplegiløsning used to stop the heart and protect myocardium by open heart surgery in which a user heart-lung machine.
Walton Lillehei, an American heart surgeon with Norwegian idea, termed internationally as the open hjertekirurgiens father.

Two important dead lines

Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions:
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/marie-sklodowska-curie-actions
Dead line: September 14th-16

ERC Starting grants: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/erc-2017-stg.html#c,topics=callIdentifier/t/ERC-2017-STG/1/1/1/default-group&callStatus/t/Forthcoming/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Open/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Closed/1/1/0/default-group&+identifier/desc
Dead line: October 18th-16. Those who need funding from 2018 must apply now

Important Issues this Autumn

bakke0x2c_per_0x2830x29Well belated summer! I hope everyone got to recharge their batteries and are now ready for the autumn. The editorial that was issued just before the summer dealt with K2’s new strategy document and it stated that we would use it actively in our efforts to enhance K2. The strategy document concerns us all and you can find it here if you need to freshen it up. The K2 management will have a particular focus on the following issues in the strategy document this fall: Recruitment, publication activity, use of MittUiB, Canvas and Inspera and financial reporting. We will come back to these issues in future editorials. When it comes to recruitment, the following should be noted: The K2 economy is now balanced, and in the next few years there are some natural age retirements. This opens opportunities for strategic recruitment.

Øystein Bruserud was the head of the Recruitment committee, who recommended that when recruiting after retirement we should check first that the teaching requirements within that particular field is covered. Then the vacant position should be advertised as broad as possible to ensure the best possible recruitment. I think these are good thoughts.

To be continued.

Per

 

New Names

13956943_1072627702831997_1409737136_nIntroducing Katarina Flaskerud, Master in Economics and Business Administration. Katarina started in August 2016 as a Higher Executive Officer in economics at Department of Clinical Science. If you want to say hello , you can find her 8th-floor in the lab-building.