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A study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Copenhagen published in Nature provides new and important knowledge about how the brain controls locomotion. In research on mice, scientists have discovered that specific start cells in various locations in the brainstem control whether the mouse walks or runs. This research may lead to new treatments for diseases and injuries that adversely affect locomotion.

Jorge Ruas, Associate Professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet, is the recipient of The Leif C. Groop award for outstanding diabetes research for his work on muscle and exercise physiology and critical signalling pathways in skeletal muscle, liver and fat tissue.

The failure of drugs such as SSRIs, used to treat depression, can be a result of genetic variations in patients. Variations within the gene that encodes the CYP2C19 enzyme results in extreme differences in the levels of escitalopram achieved in patients, according to a new study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Prescribing the dose of escitalopram based on a patient’s specific genetic constitution would greatly improve therapeutic outcomes.

Four publishing houses were present at Karolinska Institutet's book fair on December 14th - Fri Tanke, Volante, Natur & Kultur and KIUP - and some of the authors they represented were interviewed during the afternoon. Visitors had the opportunity to ask questions directly to the scientists and get books signed.

This week the British Journal of Pharmacology publishes a themed section entitled “WNT Signalling: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities”.

MTC awards were presented to the following categories and recipients from the Head of Department Pontus Aspenström this December:

Five researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been approved Distinguished Professor Grant by the Swedish Research Council, each of approximately 3.5-5 million SEK annualy for ten years. In total almost half a billion SEK will be allocated to ten researchers in Sweden.

Nick Tobin, Arian Lundberg and colleagues have shown the broad clinical utility of the Recurrence Score and PAM50 breast cancer gene signatures in two papers published simultaneously in Clinical Cancer Research.

Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam has been awarded a Distinguished Professor Grant from Vetenskapsrådet, one of 5 recipients at Karolinska Institutet. The grant for the project "Genetic studies of antibody diversity" consists of a 5 Million SEK yearly grant over a ten year period for a total amount of 50 Million SEK.