With the summer long gone, and a new term in full swing, it is time for a very late and past-due update post! The autumn of 2019 was hectic, exciting and rewarding! The year started off with the addition of three new group members, two PhDs and a post-doc (more about this further down). We also started our to date most collaborative effort, which was to connect (almost) all of our existing models. The first phase of this project culminated in a fully packed event at the Almedalen week in the beginning of the summer, but more about this in a later blog post.
The group has grown. We have had several new (but old) additions. Both me (Christian Simonsson) and Nicolas Sundqvist, both previous master-thesis students in systems biology, started PhD-positions in the group. Here’s a short update from us. I’m finishing up my projects concerning the metabolic syndrome and I have just started new projects concerning disease progression in the liver (ASH/NASH). Adding to this, I will spend half of my PhD working at the Division of Radiological Sciences (RAD) in the group of Peter Lundberg, doing clinical research. Right now, I am analyzing MRE data for patients with suspected liver fibrosis. Nicolas is continuing his work with metabolic flux modelling, but he has also branched out, and is now doing modelling of fMRI data and brain metabolism in the group of Maria Engstrom. Also, Belen Casas is doing her post-doc in our group. Her post-doc project concerns mechanistic modeling of MPS-systems.
Three talented internship-students have just ended their one year stay with us. Kajsa Tunedal has worked with several projects, including modelling of NEFA circulation and uptake in the liver, and modelling of cortisol levels in relation to stress. Henrik Podéus has worked with connecting several models describing the different aspects of the neurovascular coupling in collaboration with Sebastian Sten (PhD in Maria Engstroms group). Anton Tornerefelt has with collaborators from Örebro’s University created a model of Macrophages activation. You all have done great work and we wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors!
Here is two of our latest group photos! The latter is from our latest group retreat, which took place at the beautiful Omberg eco-park.
