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
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
NING XU LANDÉN GROUP
MicroRNA and wound healing
About
Both chronic non-healing wounds and psoriasis are major and rising health and economic burdens worldwide and lack of effective treatment. Investigation of the role of regulatory RNAs, for example microRNA and long non-coding RNAs, represents an emerging concept, and constitutes a promising area for pharmaceutical intervention. The goal of our laboratory is to unravel the role(s) of regulatory RNAs in skin wound healing and in psoriasis. Moreover, we aim to translate basic scientific findings into therapeutic interventions for patients.
Research profile
Project 1. The role of non-coding RNAs in human skin wound healing
The goal of our research is to develop novel RNA-based treatments to improve healing of human skin wounds. The immense economic and social impact of deficient wound healing e.g. chronic ulcers post-surgical wounds care and skin scarring, calls for attention and allocation of resources to understand biological mechanisms underlying wound complications. Due to the complex nature of wounds, efficient targeted approach to enhance healing are essentially lacking today.
The recent discovery of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) as powerful gene regulators provides hope to develop novel RNA-based treatments for a wide variety of diseases. However, the role of ncRNAs in human skin wound healing remains largely unexplored.
The objective of our study is to reveal the role(s) of ncRNAs in skin wound healing and to explore the potential of RNA-based therapy for chronic wounds. We primarily focus on small ncRNAs, i.e. microRNAs (miRNAs) and long-non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and study:
(i) The expression profiles of miRNA/lncRNA in injured human skin;
(ii) The biological function of differentially expressed miRNAs/lncRNAs in wounds;
(iii) The molecular mechanisms mediating the biological functions of wound related miRNAs/lncRNAs;
(iv) The therapeutic potentials of targeting wound related miRNAs.
Our research network is composed of both clinicians and scientists, which allows us to perform ‘Bench-to-Bedside’ research. At present, we are investigating the novel roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs in skin wounds using our unique collection of human wound tissues. In the next step, we aim to translate our basic scientific findings into therapeutic interventions for wound patients.
Project 2. Investigation of the mechanistic links between psoriasis and co-morbidities
Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the skin. It is a lifelong disease with spontaneous remissions and exacerbations, affecting the patients’ life quality substantially, and there is no cure for it today. Epidemiological studies show that psoriasis patients have increased risks of developing systemic co-morbidities, e.g. obesity, overt diabetes and cardiovascular disease; however, the molecular mechanisms behind these co-morbidities remain unexplored. We have previously demonstrated that miRNAs play important roles in skin inflammation of psoriasis. Here, we study whether miRNA could also be a key mechanistic link between psoriasis and its co-morbidities, using materials from a large biobank of psoriasis patients in Stockholm. This study will further increase our understanding about pathogenesis of psoriasis. It is essential for the effective management of psoriasis and prevention of its related co-morbidities.
Funding
Current:
Lau grant from the Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine
http://ki.se/en/research/the-2016-recipients-of-lau-grants
Ragnar Söderbergs Foundation
http://ragnarsoderbergsstiftelse.se/ning-xu-landen
Swedish Research Council (project and network grants)
Swedish Psoriasis Foundation
Jeanssons Foundation
Åke wibergs Foundation
HudFonden (Swedish dermatology foundation)
KI Faculty funded position as senior researcher
Karolinska Institutet KID-grant
Karolinska Institute foundation
Past:
Foundation La Roche-Posay
Hedlunds foundation
Swedish medical doctor society (SLS) research fund
European Skin Research Foundation
Swedish society for medical research (SSMF) fund
Pfizer AB Investigator Initiated Research fund
Tore Nilssons foundation for medical research
Lars Hiertas memorial foundation
Sigurt och Elsa Goljes memorial foundation
Opportunities
We always want to get in touch with talented potential co-workers. If you are interested in doing research within our group, as a degree project or as a researcher, please contact Ning (ning.xu@ki.se). We would also be happy to help with applications for external support for PhD study or postdoctoral fellowships.
Education
We organize the following doctoral course at KI
In situ hybridization: theory and practice (#2872)
Find a link to KI doctoral courses:
http://kiwas.ki.se/katalog/katalog/kurser
Master’s and other projects:
We are always looking for talented and interested students.
Selected Publications
Link to all publications on PubMed.
Li X, Li D, Wang A, Chu T, Lohcharoenkal W, Zheng X, Grünler J, Narayanan S, Eliasson S, Herter E, Wang Y, Ma Y, Ehrström M, Eidsmo L, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Catrina S, Ståhle M, Xu Landén N. MicroRNA-132 with therapeutic potential in chronic wounds. J Invest Dermatol. 2017 Dec;137(12):2630-2638.
Li X, Li D, Wikström J.D., Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Ståhle M, Xu Landén N. MicroRNA-132 promotes fibroblast migration via regulating RAS p21 protein activator 1 in skin wound healing. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 10;7(1):7797.
Herter EK, Landén NX. Non-coding RNAs: new players in skin wound healing. Advances in Wound Care. 2017 Mar 1;6(3):93-107.
Landén NX, Li D, Ståhle M. Transition from inflammation to proliferation: a critical step during wound healing. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2016 Oct;73(20):3861-85.
Cheung L, Fisher RM, Kuzmina N, Li D, Li X, Werngren O, Blomqvist L, Ståhle M, Landén NX. Psoriasis skin inflammation-induced microRNA-26b targets NCEH1 in underlying subcutaneous adipose tissue. J Invest Dermatol. 2016 Mar;136(3):640-648.
Li D, Wang A, Liu X, Meisgen F, Grunler J, Botusan IR, Narayanan S, Erikci E, Li X, Blomqvist L, Du L, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Chowdhury K, Catrina S, Ståhle M, Landén NX. MicroRNA-132 enhances transition from inflammation to proliferation during wound healing. J Clin Invest. 2015 Aug 3;125(8):3008-26.
Li D, Wang A, Meisgen F, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Ståhle M, Landén NX. MicroRNA-31 promotes skin wound healing by enhancing keratinocyte proliferation and migration. J Invest Dermatol. 2015 Jun;135(6):1676-1685.