I am Senior Professor and Principal Investigator for a a national multicenter study on biomarkers in colorectal cancer predicting risk for recurrence after curative surgery, the COLONODE-study.
I came to Umeå University in 1986 from Professor Peter Perlman's Immunology Department at Stockholm University, where I also did my PhD studies. I have pursued research, graduate- and undergraduate teaching in Immunology at the Medical Faculty ever since I arrived.
Mucosal immunity has been the focus of my research throughout, in particular the role of T lymphocytes and their interactions with the epithelium. A substantial part has dealt with diseases in the human intestine; inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, cholera, and colorectal cancer. The research has also dealt with the role of gut microbiota in health and disease.
Of particular interest was our discovery of two new bacterial species, Lachnoanaerobaculum umeaense och Prevotella jejuni, that are associated with celiac disease. Another interesting finding was that Vibrio cholerae bacteria excrete vesicles that induces expression of immunomodulatory microRNA in the intestinal epithelium. In colorectal cancer we have identified a combination of biomarkers that with high accuracy identifies patients at risk for recurrence after curative surgery. The combination also allows allocation of patients to groups with different risk for recurrence.