Published: 15-05-2023 16:26 | Updated: 15-05-2023 16:27

KI-SciLifeLab Symposium 2023 highlighted the importance of community and collaboration

President Annika Östman Wernerson, Erik Benson, Camilla Engblom, Avlant Nilsson och Andrea Fossati at the KI SciLifeLab Symposium 2023. Photo: Karin Ekström.

This year’s KI-SciLifeLab Symposium brought the community of KI researchers and staff affiliated to SciLifeLab closer together.

As a start to the symposium, SciLifeLab Director Olli Kallioniemi and SciLifeLab Campus Solna Director Per Ljungdahl talked about upcoming opportunities, and the future of SciLifeLab on a national and global level as well as at Campus Solna. KI SciLifeLab Scientific Director Janne Lehtiö and KI SciLifeLab Integration Director Urban Lendahl spoke about the key role of the collaboration between SciLifeLab and KI in precision medicine in the Stockholm region and upcoming activities for the community.

KI researchers at SciLifeLab gave talks about an impressive range of scientific topics and methods that are employed by the community. In the morning session, Adnane Anchour presented interdisciplinary research integrating structural biology, immunology and oncology, and Rozbeh Jafari presented research aiming to develop tailored precision therapies for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Selected talks in the afternoon session included Thomas Helleday who presented research on oncogenes and replication stress in cancer, and Kathleen Watt presenting research on hypoxia induced changes in transcription.

Ricky Ansell from the National Forensic Center at the Swedish Policy Authority gave a much-appreciated talk about the history, challenges and research concerning the use of DNA in forensic analyses. From the first case that used DNA in a UK court in 1986 when very large samples were necessary to construct a profile, to the introduction of PCR and current day ultra-sensitive methods that can detect trace amounts of touch DNA on almost any surface. Recent high-profile cases involving forensic genealogy based on commercial DNA databases were also covered in the lecture.

The symposium was honored to welcome President Annika Östman Wernerson who spoke about her vision for KI and SciLifeLab and strategy for collaboration in the region.

Finally, four soon to be new members of the KI SciLifeLab community presented their planned research programs. Incoming Fellows in the Data-Driven Life Sciences (DDLS) Program, Andrea Fossati from UCSF and Avlant Nilsson from MIT, presented their research in the fields of antibiotic resistance and bacteriophages and deep learning models of cancer mechanisms, respectively. Incoming SciLifeLab Fellows, Camilla Engblom from KI and Erik Benson from KTH, presented their research on B cell dynamics and DNA tools in biomedicine, respectively.

SciLifeLab landing page 2
Photo: SciLifeLab press office.

Facts

The Science for Life Laboratory, SciLifeLab, is a shared national infrastructure for advanced technology driven life science research co-founded by KI together with Stockholm University, KTH and Uppsala University. The main SciLifeLab Campus is situated in Solna and there are more than 30 KI research groups based there.

The annual KI-SciLifeLab Symposium is an initiative from the SciLifeLab Committee at KI, with the aim to highlight and share research from across the community of KI researchers and infrastructure facilities affiliated to SciLifeLab as a means to bring the community closer together.

Contact

Adina Feldman Scientific Coordinator