Biography
Professor Robert A. Harris
Professor Robert A. Harris (Bob) was born in Harpenden in Southern UK in 1966. He conducted a Bsc.Hons undergraduate degree at Portsmouth Polytechnic, majoring in Parasitology in 1987. PhD studies at University College London studying innate immune agglutinins in Schistosoma host snail species with Terry Preston and Vaughan Southgate as supervisors culminated with a thesis defence in early 1991. A 2.5 year postdoc at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in Paul Kaye’s research group ensued, with focus on understanding the intracellular fate of Leishmania spp. protozoans in macrophages. Bob was awarded a Wellcome Trust postdoctoral fellowship that permitted his relocation to the Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) in the spring of 1994. A postdoc period was spent split between the labs of Anders Örn and Tomas Olsson, in which he studied Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma bruceii protozoan proteins. Bob became an Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institutet in 1999, heralding his establishment as a PI. Bob started to work with autoimmune diseases in 1996 and began study of therapy using live parasite infections or parasite molecules. His research group has developed autoantigen-specific vaccines, defined the effects of post-translational biochemical molecules on autoantigenicity and developed a macrophage adoptive transfer therapy that prevents pathogenesis in several experimental disease models. He became Professor of Immunotherapy in Neurological Diseases in 2013. In recent years research focus has centred on understanding the immunopathogenesis of incurable neurodegenerative diseases, with particular emphasis on development of immunotherapies directed at microglial cells as potential therapeutic paradigms.
Bob Harris CV July 2020
ERIK HERLENIUS GROUP
Development of autonomic control
About
Immature or deficient autonomic control is a common problem in infants born at a premature age and is of central importance in apneas, secondary hypoxic brain damage and sudden infant death syndrome.
PER ERIKSSON GROUP
Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics
Research
For better understanding of disturbances in respiratory control we study early development of cardiorespiratory control, brainstem neural networks and its associations with normal and pathological breathing. The conceptual change introduced by our recent data that endogenous prostaglandins are central pathogenic factors in respiratory disorders and the hypoxic response, open new diagnostic and therapeutic avenues that should significantly better the diagnostics and treatment of newborns and adult patients.
Inflammation is a major culprit in breathing disorders and we hypothesize that by using a newly developed urinary prostaglandin biomarker we can screen, detect and protect against inflammation related breathing disorders.
Our collaborative efforts enable us to move from a clinical problem to molecular understanding of the disease and studies are performed in patients, animal & in vitro models.
Our research is focused on the development of autonomic control with normal and paediatric patients as the target. Autonomic dysfunction in breathing and circulatory control often has its origin in neurodevelopment disorders. Furthermore, our basic research in developmental neuroscience how neural activity and stem cells form activity dependent networks is vital for the development of therapeutic interventions.
Read more
Contact: communication@cmm.se
CENTER FOR MOLECULAR MEDICINE
Calendar
Upcoming Events
Scandinavian Association for the Study of Pain 2021 Conference
7-8 October
Camilla Svensson, Professor and CMM Group Leader, is part of the organizing committee, and invites you to participate in this external event:
Scandinavian Association for the Study of Pain (SASP) 2021 Conference
Welcome to the Virtual conference of SASP October 7-8, 2021
Title: THE MANY “WHYS” OF PAIN
There is so much we still don’t know about the
phenomenon of pain, but there is also a lot that
we do know. Learn about the latest from expert
speakers on the topics of:
• Sleep and pain
• Widespread pain
• Pain rehabilitation
• Glial cells and pain
• Visceral pain
New: The abstract deadline is extended to September 20, 2021.
Awards (€100) will be given to two posters. Prize winners will be asked to hold 10-minute presentations at the conference.
Conference starts October 7, 2021 at 10 am CET
Register for free by sending an email to:
sasp2021meeting@gmail.com (confirmation will be sent within 24 hours)
Scientific program committee :
SASP board members
Camilla I Svensson (Karolinska Institute)
Emmanuel Bäckryd (Linköping University)
Dissertation
Linghua Kong
15 October
9:00
Title: Prenatal metabolic risks for offspring neurodevelopmental and
psychiatric disorders
Speaker: Linghua Kong
Opponent
Renee Garder, Karolinska Institutet
Main supervisor:
Catharina Lavebratt, Karolinska Institutet
Co-supervisor:
Yvonne Forsell, GPH, Yajun Liang GPH, Ida Nilsson KI, Xinxia Chen Shandong University
Examination Board:
Kristiina Tammimies, Karolinska Institutet
Ann Nordgren, Karolinska Institutet
Merja Laine, University of Helsinki
Zoom and CMM Lecture Hall
CMM Seminar
21 October
12:00 - 13:00
Title: Neurobiological mechanisms of anorexia nervosa
Speaker: Ida Nilsson, Associate Professor Karolinska Institutet, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Team leader, The Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa, Responsible for Spatial Biology - KIGene at CMM
CMM Seminar
18 November
12:00 - 13:00
Title: Update on SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19
Speaker: Jan Albert, Professor, MD, Dept of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet Dept of Clinical Microbiology, Karolinska University Hospital
Host: Anna Fogdell-Hahn, Docent, Karolinska Institutet, Dept of Clinical Neuroscience
The CVP/CVR and Heart and Vascular Theme Joint Meeting 2021
29-30 November
CMMers Anton Gisterå and Carolina Hagberg, are part of the organizing committee, and invite you to participate in this external event:
WELCOME TO THE CVP/CVR AND HEART AND VASCULAR THEME
JOINT MEETING 2021
NOVEMBER 29-30th
in Sune Bergström's Aula and via Zoom
We are planning for a hybrid meeting, changes may occur according to current Covid-19 recommendations.
To register:
• REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 24th.
• Register and send abstract to cvp.cvr.thk.2021@gmail.com (Registration
is free of charge)
• Please state your academic position and if you intend to participate in
person or online.
• For short talks and poster presentations, abstracts should be 100-250
words and include author names and affiliations, otherwise any format is
accepted
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
SPEAKERS FOR SHORT TALKS WILL BE SELECTED FROM ABSTRACTS
Scientific Program 29/11
Welcome
13:00-13.10 Welcome address: Ulf Hedin & John Pernow
Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology
13:15-13:45 Magnus , Karolinska Institutet
13:45-14:00 Short talk 1
14:00-14.15 Short talk 2
14:15-14:45 David Erlinge, Lund University
14:45-15.15 Coffee break & poster setup
Heart failure and Arrythmia
15:15-15:45 Lars Lund, Karolinska Institutet
15:45-16:00 Short talk 1
16:00-16:15 Short talk 2
16:15-16:45 Kristina Haugaa, University of Oslo
16:45-18:00 Poster session and drinks
Scientific Program 30/11
Diabetes and metabolism
9:00-9:30 Jan Eriksson, Uppsala University
9:30-9:45 Short talk 1
9:45-10.00 Short talk 2
10:00-10:30 Niklas Mejhert, Karolinska Institutet
10:30-11.00 Coffee and mingle
Inflammation in cardiovascular disease
11:00-11:30 Mia Philipsson, Uppsala University
11:30-11:45 Short talk 1
11:44-12:00 Short talk 1
12:30-13.00 TBA
12:30-12.45 Closing remarks
Organizing committee: Anneli Falkevall, Erika Folestad, Cecilia Morgantini, Luise Zeigler, Eva Svenneberg, Anton Gisterå, Carolina Hagberg
CMM Seminar
9 December
12:00 - 13:00
Title: To be announced
Speaker: Charlotte Hedin, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medicine Solna
Host: Eduardo Villablanca, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medicine Solna