We invite everyone to Lucia celebration on Friday December 12, 8:30 am in the open space area on the 2nd floor of the Laboratory Building.
This will be a cozy pre-Christmas event with nice colleagues.
Hope to see you there!
The University Director has just sent the budget allocation letter to MOFA. Unfortunately, it is rather depressive reading. Salary- and price compensation for UiB is set to 3%. However, as the money travels through the system to the institute, the compensation proposed to be cut to 1%.What the final figure will be will be decided in the December Faculty Board Meeting.
The size of the local salary pot was unusually big this year and K2 employees were allocated a large part of it, so much that our salary expenses will increase about 5% in total next year. This combined with a minimal number of retirements the next two years means that we will have to continue to reduce that base funding part of our budget. However, we will still try to shield the operating funds allocated PhD-students and Postdocs, but I cannot promise that we will be able to do so in 2015.
Another main issue for K2 in the budgeting process is how zero-overhead projects are to be handled. K2 is the institute with the highest number of such projects. The Faculty Board will in December also determine principles for how rent and administrative costs for such projects are to be paid. This may affect the financial situation at K2. There are signs that we will see a tightening in transferal in this area. Thus, we might very soon find ourselves in a situation where we will have to say no to certain forms of external funding.
Are there no positive cyphers you may ask? Well, there will be funds earmarked galenic pharmacy. In addition we will be have a larger budget for scientific equipment than in 2014. K2 will also be given a technical position for operating and administering the Unit for Healthy Volunteers which will launch in 2015.
Whether or not we will be able to strengthen the budget is also up to you as a K2-employee. At the top of my wish list is funding of some of our many EU- and NFR-applications. It is great to know that K2 is the UiB institute with the highest number of EU-applications this year; hopefully some will be translated into project funding. These are the projects that can strengthen the financial situation at K2. Let’s just hope our prayers are answered.
Wishing you all a balanced 2015
Eystein
Head of Department
As part of the emergency power test on Wendesday December 3, 2013, Teknisk Avdeling will conduct an extended emergency power test in the Laboratory Building. The reason is the need for test running the aggregates.
The emergency power test will begin at 07.15 and end at 08.00.
For more information (in Norwegian)
Marie Karlsen
Thursday December 4, at 08:00-09:00
The midway evaluation will take place in the seminar room on the 7th floor of the Lab-building
We wish to invite you all to the next monthly K1/K2 Seminar Series!
Title: “B-cell depletion in chronic fatigue syndrome”
Held by Øystein Fluge, Senior Scientist, Department of Clinical Science
When: Wednesday, December 3rd, 14:15-15:00.
Where: Main Auditorium, 3rd floor, Sentralblokken.
Chair: Roland Jonsson
Abstract: Chief Physician and Senior Scientist Øystein Fluge, together with colleague Olav Mella, study the effects of the cancer medicine Rituximab on ME-patients, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This year they have initiated a double blind study in order to test Rituximab on patients. At this seminar Øystein Fluge will talk about his exciting work, about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the effects of Rituximab.
On December 27, 2104, The Pasteur Foundation will award scholarships to Norwegian scientists who intend to study a topic related to infectious agents, chemistry or the fermentation industry. Allocation of funding is preferably awarded young, active and promising researchers, below the doctoral level.
For more information (In norwegian)
Deadline December 15th.
The Meltzer Research Fund annually distributes awards for young reasearchers and for excellence in the dissemination of research. All professors and heads of department at the University of Bergen are eligible to nominate candidates to the Fund’s awards.
Deadline for sending in suggestions for nominations is December 1, 2014.
More information
As part of the annual meeting of American College of Rheumatology (ACR) in Boston, USA, PhD-Candidate/LIS-doctor Maria Boge Lauvsnes was awarded the Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation’s Outstanding Abstract Award. Through her work – Hippocampal Atrophy Is Associated with Anti-NR2 Antibodies in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome – she has shown that a type of anti-NMDA receptor antibodies (anti-NR2 antibodies) cause atrophy of the brain structure hippocampus in humans with the immunological diseases SLE and primary Sjögren’s syndrome. This has been confirmed in animal models, which have revealed that anti-NR2 antibodies cause neuronal death of hippocampus in mice.
Such antibodies are associated with cognitive failure in both SLE and primary Sjögren’s syndrome, and they may constitute a general mechanism for cerebral affection with immunopathies.
Maria Boge Lauvsnes works for the Clinical Immunological Research Group at Stavanger University Hospital
Week 48/2014.
