NEWS Umeå professor Mikael Elofsson has since 2018 been engaged in a research collaboration with the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The focus is on understanding how viruses infect human cells – knowledge that could pave the way for new antiviral treatments.
Mikael Elofsson, Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, is collaborating with AstraZeneca to pave the way for antiviral treatments.
ImageMattias PetterssonIt has been incredibly exciting and rewarding to combine our expertise in academic research with that of a large pharmaceutical company
The collaboration began following a conference on academic drug development in Cambridge, UK, in 2016. There, a partnership was established between AstraZeneca's Open Innovation initiative and the national infrastructure network Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden, CBCS, which became the gateway to the research collaboration.
– In the first part of 2018, project plans took shape. The experimental work could begin later that same year, says Mikael Elofsson, Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Umeå University.
The project is a collaboration between Mikael Elofsson and Magnus Evander, Professor at the Department of Clinical Microbiology. Together, they combine expertise in chemistry and virology to map how a virus interacts with the host cell during the various stages of the infection cycle.
– The goal is to understand which human proteins and signaling pathways are critical for infection. Today, we can only treat a fraction of all virus-caused diseases, so the need for new antiviral drugs is enormous, not least to be prepared for future pandemics, says Mikael Elofsson, who also is a research leader at Umeå Centre for Microbial Research, UCMR.
Mikael Elofsson and Stina Berglund Fick, Head of Unit at the Chemical Biological Consortium Sweden, CBCS, an infrastructure unit at SciLifeLab. The collaboration between AstraZeneca's Open Innovation initiative and CBCS pawed the way for Mikael Elofssons collaboration with AstraZeneca.
ImageAnna-Lena LindskogThe collaboration has led to several scientific breakthroughs. Among other things, the researchers have identified a protein family important for how adenovirus – which can caus fever, cough, and diarrhea – infects cells.
– We have had a close and very productive collaboration throughout the project period, which is still ongoing! It has been incredibly exciting and rewarding to combine our expertise in academic research with that of a large pharmaceutical company.
The results of the collaboration were presented at the 8th European Congress of Virology in 2023, and a scientific article summarising the research has now been submitted for publication.
– We are also investigating whether more relevant protein families can be identified for further research together with AstraZeneca, says Mikael Elofsson.
There are great possibilities to accomplish things together that you cannot do alone
Combining academic and industrial research has proven successful. Mikael Elofsson highlights the synergies that arise when different areas of expertise meet:
– Our academic research questions and the results we have built up over 20 years form the core of the project. The collaboration with AstraZeneca enables us to take bold steps toward new goals.
Although the collaboration has required some adjustment to industrial workflows and timelines, he does not see this as a hindrance as it is a natural part of an ambitious, interdisciplinary project.
– We have faced challenges, but they mainly relate to things like developing robust testing methods, which is part of the everyday work in experimental research, he explains.
Elofsson has long been in favour of collaboration between academia and industry, something that shaped his research career from the outset.
– My postdoctoral research led to an approved cancer drug, so I know that collaboration can lead to tangible results. I truly encourage other researchers to seize the opportunity – there are great possibilities to accomplish things together that you cannot do alone.
Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS), an infrastructure unit at SciLifeLab, invited Björn Tyrberg and Hannah Semple from AstraZeneca OpenInnovation, and Chemistry professor Mikael Elofsson to talk about innovation through collaboration.
"Collaboration with industry" is a new article series that highlights the collaborations between Umeå researchers and life science companies. This is the first article in the series, that's written by the News council in life science.
