The futures research leaders

Two researchers at Department of Medicine, Huddinge, have received major grants from SSF within the research program Future Research Leaders (FFL).

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research have given Robert Månsson, HERM and LabMed, as well as Yenan Bryceson, CIM, 10 million SEK each.

Yenan Bryceson received the grant for his project "Epigenetic regulation of cytotoxic lymphocyte function, and Robert Månsson for "Impact and function of distal gene regulatory elements".

Future Research Leaders (FFL) aims to support young scientists, who have the potential to become future leaders of academic research in Sweden. The grant is also given to support researchers to establish their independent research activity.

A total of seven scientists at Karolinska Institutet out of 20 received grants from SSF. These are Fanie Barnabé-Heider, Björn Högberg, Maria Kasper, Konstantinos Meletis and Roland Nilsson.

Interview with Robert Månsson, at Labmed and HERM

The grant is given to support researchers to establish their independent research activity. How will you use the money to do this?

- I will recruit a few more co-workers, hopefully two postdocs and a doctoral student that will work with the SSF supported project. The plan is also to make a long-term commitment to collect patient samples in collaboration with the hematology clinic.

Tell us about your project. How will your research be conducted?

-The project will mostly be carried out by a team within the research group, but obviously parts of the project will be done in collaboratively with groups at KI, and other institutions. Physically, the research will be conducted at HERM in Huddinge.

What is the aim of the project?

-We have various research questions that we are working on, but if I need to sum it all up in one sentence. Then, the aim is to understand how gene regulatory elements control the development of blood cells, and if mutations in these elements contribute to the development of leukemia.