SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Division of Clinical Immunology, Dept. of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet Medical University (KI), Stockholm

Postal address: Institutionen för laboratoriemedicin, KI, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge F79, SE-141 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Visiting adress: Alfred Nobels Allé 8, plan 7, Huddinge (in the ”Odontology” building)
Web address: http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=6203&l=en

Contact person: Professor Lennart Hammarström, Head of Division, phone: +46 (0)8 5248 3586

The Department of Laboratory Medicine was formed in 2003 by a fusion of two departments: the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences and Technology and the Department of Microbiology, Pathology and Immunology. Today, the Department of Laboratory Medicine consists of 9 divisions and it is representative for the laboratory medicine in the full sense of the word. 350 persons work at this department, half of them are PhD students.
In the graduate and post graduate education, there is a great demand of the competence field of this department, i.e. cell biology, laboratory medicine, physiology and technology. The department is one of the largest departments of education at Karolinska Institutet and it is involved in 12 of the 19 study programs including 500 full-time equivalent students. Furthermore, the department offers a great number of single subject courses and contract education courses. The department works closely together with the program of natural sciences at the Södertörns Högskola and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).

South Asia related research at the Division:

Prof. Lennart Hammarström leads a research group in Clinical Immunology (more information). The research deals with the role of different cell types in the defense against pathogens, understanding the ”language” used for communication between cells (cytokines/receptors), molecular basis of primary immunodeficiency diseases, the role of the immune system in transplantations (autologous, allogeneic, xeno), mechanisms involved in autoimmunity, and factors underlying the development of allergy Immunotherapy (cytokines, antibodies, immunosuppressive drugs, BMT/stem cell transplantation).

During the 1990s, Prof Hammarström worked on a project in Bangladesh, titled ”Oral immunoglobulin as prophylaxis and treatment of gastrointestinal infection”. The last research grant was given in 1995.

Dr. Shafiqul Sarker from ICDDR,B (Centre for Health and Population Research) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, defended his doctoral dissertation at KI on 12 December 2006. The thesis was titled ”Passive immunotherapy and probiotic agents in enteric infections in children” and dealt with diarrhoeal disease, one of the leading causes of global childhood morbidity and mortality throughout the World. Rotavirus and pathogenic Escherichia coli are the most common causes of acute diarrheal illness in children. The thesis presented results how the rotavirus diarrhoea in children can be effectively treated. Dr. Sarker had been involved in a sandwich PhD programme with the Division of of Clinical Immunology since 2001. He was supervised by Prof. Lennart Hammarström. Read the abstact of the thesis.