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Hovedmålet med kreftbehandling er å eliminere kreftceller og dette er tradisjonelt oppnådd ved kirurgi, bruk av giftige medikamenter (cellegift) og stråling. En ny og betydningsfull tilnærming til kreftbehandling kalt immunterapi, har derimot fått mye oppmerksomhet det siste tiåret; Her forsøker leger og forskere å utnytte immunsystemet vårt for å målrettet  ødelegge kreftceller. En nøkkelaktør i denne banebrytende tilnærmingen er en gruppe «drapsmenn» i immunsystemet kjent som cytotoxiske T-lymfocytter (CTL-er). Disse cellene har en bemerkelsesverdig evne til å oppdage kreftceller ved å gjenkjenne unormale molekyler på overflaten av kreftcellene - molekyler som friske celler ikke har. Når CTL-er gjenkjenner kreftcellene ødelegger de dem ved å frigjøre giftige molekyler som initierer kreftcellenes selvdestruksjon. 
 
Selv om betydelige innsats har blitt dedikert til å forstå hvordan CTL-er aktiveres og hvordan de gjenkjenner kreftceller, vet vi mindre om de påfølgende hendelsene inne i kreftcellene som fører til deres død. Fra før vet vi at CTL-er kan initiere to forskjellige typer celledød i kreft: den første, kalt apoptose, er en stille og ordnet prosess der kreftcellene krymper og brytes opp uten å varsle immunsystemet; den andre, kalt pyroptose, er en mer dramatisk prosess som involverer dannelse av åpninger i cellemembranen, noe som fører til at cellene svulmer opp og sprekker. Under denne cellebristen blir innholdet inne i cellene frigitt i omgivelsene, og dette kan fungere som 'faretegn' som kan stimulere en sterkere immunrespons mot kreftcellene. Betydningen av denne cellebristen for å forsterke anti-tumorresponsene vil bli undersøkt i dette prosjektet. 
 
Videre er vi fascinert av muligheten for å avdekke ytterligere, ennå ukjente, former for celledød indusert av CTL-er. Utforsking av disse dødsrelaterte prosessene i kreftcellene kan potensielt øke effektiviteten av immunterapi og bidra betydelig i den pågående kampen mot kreft.

The primary goal of most cancer therapies is to induce cancer cell death. Immunotherapy relies on the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes such as natural killer cells (NKs) and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to achieve this. While a significant amount of research in immunotherapy focuses on the events within cytotoxic lymphocytes or at the interface between cytotoxic lymphocytes and cancer cells, less is known about the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate cancer cell death, particularly in the case of CTL-mediated death.
CTLs are known to induce two types of cell death in cancer: non-inflammatory apoptosis and proinflammatory pyroptosis. Pyroptotic cancer cells release proinflammatory signals that attract immune cells to the tumor site, thereby enhancing the anti-tumor response. Cell lysis is a common outcome of pyroptotic cell death. It is unclear whether lysis can be decoupled from pyroptosis in cancer cells and whether the proinflammatory properties of pyroptotic cancer cell death depend on lysis. Moreover, it remains unknown whether CTLs can induce other forms of cell death in cancer, apart from apoptosis and pyroptosis.
Studying the mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death is challenging because CTLs selectively target cells expressing specific antigens. However, given the critical role of CTLs in immunotherapy, it is essential to deepen our understanding of CTL-induced cancer cell death.
This project aims to develop novel methodologies to investigate the death mechanisms that are initiated by CTLs. In addition, we will identify new pathways and mediators involved in CTL-induced cancer cell death. Furthermore, we will assess the contribution of proinflammatory cell death and lysis in promoting anti-tumor responses in vivo. Overall, this research will improve our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death and potentially reveal novel targets to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

T-cell-mediated proinflammatory cell death and lysis in cancer

En av de vanligste, men minst studerte, utfordringene med å bli eldre er problemer med å kommunisere. Mange eldre sliter spesielt med pragmatiske ferdigheter, som å forstå undertekst, eller tilpasse det de sier til personen de snakker med. 

La oss si at en lege må gi en alvorlig beskjed til en pasient. For å gjøre det litt lettere å takle, bruker legen vagere språk, som "kanskje" i stedet for "sannsynligvis". Mens yngre voksne ofte tar hensyn til høflighetsstrategier i måten de tolker det som blir sagt på, har eldre ofte vanskelig for å forstå når noen snakker indirekte. Mange eldre voksne har vanskelig for å forstå ikke-bokstavelig språk og kan misforstå alvorlighetsgraden av diagnosen. Dette kan påvirke beslutningen deres om behandling, noe som kan føre til utilsiktede konsekvenser. 

Siden god kommunikasjon er viktig både i viktige medisinske samtaler og i hverdagen, er det viktig at vi finner ut hva som gjør at eldre kan ha vansker med å forstå og bli forstått. RESILIENCE skal hjelpe til med denne utfordringen ved å samle data om praktiske, kognitive og språklige ferdigheter hos voksne i alderen 18-90 år over tid. Dette vil gi oss en stor mengde data om pragmatiske, kognitive og språk ferdigheter og gjøre det tilgjengelig for forskning. Med denne dataen som grunnlag har vi følgende mål: 

• Forstå hvordan praktiske evner endrer seg generelt gjennom voksenlivet. 
• Finne ut hvilke mekanismer som påvirker pragmatiske evner på forskjellige tidspunkter i livet.
 • Utvikle en teoretisk modell som forklarer hvordan pragmatiske ferdigheter endrer seg med alderen.
 • Lage algoritmer som kan forutsi hvordan pragmatiske evner vil utvikle seg for enkeltpersoner i årene som kommer. 
• Utvikle og teste et verktøy som kan måle pragmatisk helse (både pragmatiske ferdigheter og deres underliggende mekanismer), noe som kan åpne  for å iverksette tiltak. 

Dette vil gi oss muligheten til å forstå bedre hvordan folk kan utvikle pragmatisk resiliens gjennom livsløpet.

A cornerstone of human communication is our reliance on pragmatic skills to guide linguistic interactions (e.g., reasoning about others' mental states to bridge the gap between what is said and intended in conversation). However these skills are highly sensitive to age-related decline, leading to miscommunication and uninformed decision making in the older adult population. This raises an important question, one which has puzzled linguistics and psychologists for decades: if pragmatic competence is fundamental to communication, why do individuals vary so much in this capacity? 

Traditionally, psychologists have approached pragmatic competence from a cognitive angle, reasoning that individual differences in executive functions (i.e., the cognitive skills associated with goal-directed actions) are what underlie effective pragmatic behavior. In a similar vein, language scientists have taken a linguistic approach, reasoning that one’s language background (e.g., the frequency with which individuals shift between languages) shapes pragmatic skills by enhancing sensitivity to the communicative context. This focus on either cognitive or linguistic influences has resulted in two expansive yet disparate areas of research.

RESILIENCE will unite these disciplines to pursue a longstanding debate on what underlies pragmatic resilience and decline using a large-scale, interdisciplinary and longitudinal approach. By gathering data on adults' (ages 18-90) pragmatic, cognitive and language skills over multiple time points, we will develop a comprehensive theoretical model that explains how cognitive and linguistic systems interact to shape pragmatic competence as we age, and create algorithms that predict the trajectory of an individual’s pragmatic abilities in upcoming years. Based on these results we will design a multidimensional tool that detects the earliest signs of pragmatic deficits, leading to future interventions, allowing us to uncover the paths to pragmatic resilience.

Uncovering the paths to pragmatic resilience

Noen av oss tåler stressende livshendelser godt. Andre derimot utvikler vedvarende fysiske og psykiske plager som følger av stress. Hvor godt vi håndterer stress avhenger av et komplekst samspill mellom miljøfaktorer, sosiale forhold, biologisk sårbarhet og indre motstandskraft. Forskning på stressreaksjonene til dyr og pasientgrupper som til vanlig lever under mye stress viser at en gruppe signalstoffer i kroppen som aktiverer det samme hjernesystemet som cannabis – endocannabinoidene – kan begrense styrken på stressreaksjoner og bidra til at man raskere kommer seg til hektene. I dette prosjektet skal vi undersøke hvordan mestring av stress på kort og lang sikt henger sammen med nivåer av endocannabinoider i kroppen for å forstå hvorfor noen personer er mer motstandsdyktige mot stress enn andre. I den ene studien følger vi pasienter som skal gjennomgå en stressende, men veldig vanlig, situasjon: kirurgi. Her måler vi pasientenes opplevelse av stress, samt mentale og fysiske helse, fra tiden før til to år etter operasjonen og undersøker hvordan dette henger sammen med nivåene deres av endocannabinoider og andre stresshormoner. I den andre studien bruker vi data fra et eksperiment hvor deltakerne har blitt utsatt for psykososialt stress til å undersøke om endocannabinoidnivået deres påvirker hvordan de reagerer på stress, og om stresset i seg selv kan påvirke kroppens produksjon av endocannabinoider. Til syvende og sist er målet med studien å vurdere hvorvidt målinger av endocannabinoidnivåer kan brukes til å forebygge helseplager og til å evaluere behovet for økt oppfølging etter alvorlig stressende påkjenninger i livet.

In the face of major life stressors, some individuals cope well whereas others develop ill health and long-term adverse outcomes. Predicting who needs additional support in response to major life stressors is essential for targeted prevention and more efficient allocation of resources. The endocannabinoid system is emerging as a promising target for understanding vulnerability and resilience to stress. This system appears to buffer stress in two ways: by limiting the magnitude of the stress response, and by facilitating recovery after a stressful event. While the early findings are intriguing, they mainly stem from studies in rodents and small clinical groups with high stress burden. What role endocannabinoids have more globally for human resilience, health and well-being remains elusive. 

In this project we address this gap by leveraging comprehensive experimental and clinical data on two potent stress models: psychosocial stress and surgery. Drawing on these unique datasets, which combine experimental control with ecological validity, we will decipher how endocannabinoid levels influence people’s stress response and recovery across minutes, days, weeks and years. The project represents a novel directional shift for endocannabinoid research and will (i) determine the value of endocannabinoid levels as a biomarker to predict outcomes after surgery, (ii) quantify sex differences, (iii) assess endocannabinoid interplay with opioid analgesics, sex hormones and other stress markers (iv) spearhead open and reproducible science practices in endocannabinoid research, and (v) make this fine-grained and novel data available through an interactive web application. 

This project represents an ambitious effort to understand endocannabinoids’ role in stress resilience and will determine the value of endocannabinoids as a predictive biomarker and potential target for individualized treatment.

Deciphering endocannabinoid stress buffering in humans: 
Mechanistic and clinical investigations

BOLD MINDS aspires to enhance the understanding of vulnerability factors underlying the emergence of borderline personality disorder (BPD), with an ultimate aim of increasing the potential for young individuals to receive early, evidence-based help when their mental health is at risk. BOLD MINDS will achieve this by investigating whether disruptions in two aspects of autobiographical memory (AM), narrative identity (NI) and involuntary AM (IAM), are associated with BPD features and problem behaviours in adolescents concurrently and over time. In doing so, BOLD MINDS will strengthen the understanding of mechanisms underlying the emergence of BPD in adolescence and lay a groundwork for developing evidence-based early interventions for BPD. While currently limited, the study of AM in this field is essential for two reasons. Firstly, because the aspects of AM under investigation, NI and IAM, are known to be involved in identity formation and emotion regulation which represent two key psychological processes that are disrupted in adults with BPD and are linked to problem behaviours such as self-harm and suicidality. Secondly, because promising research is emerging on the use of AM targets in the treatment of emotional disorder in adults, and provides a strong model for future treatment development with vulnerable adolescents. In addition, this timely research program aligns with calls from international organizations to prioritize early interventions to promote adolescent mental health. BOLD MINDS will adopt and adapt state-of-the-art ecological momentary assessment and analytical techniques and work at the crossroads of clinical and cognitive psychological perspectives, allowing for a multidimensional approach to understanding BPD vulnerability. Training-through-research and formalized training of the experienced researcher will prepare her for a permanent academic position and the founding of her own research lab specializing in AM and early interventions for BPD.

Borderline Personality Disorder: Memory and Identity in Adolescence

The goal of the Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms (BECAME) project is to examine the functional neuroplastic mechanisms underlying mitigatory effects of bilingual experience on age-related cognitive decline. While evidence is available for structural brain changes supporting bilingualism-induced effects on cognitive aging (CA), functional mechanisms underlying such effects are not yet well understood. BECAME aims to fill this gap by investigating the trajectory of bilingualism-induced functional neuroplasticity across the adult lifespan (ages 18-85), crucially adopting an individual differences approach related to measurable degree of bilingual engagement. Importantly, although such benefits are thought to be rooted early in the lifespan, evidence for the timeframe and conditions of their early emergence is scarce. The choice of including the whole adult lifespan allows us to investigate these mechanisms and their emergence more directly from a lifespan perspective. I combine behavioral testing with brain recordings via electroencephalography (EEG). EEG is widely used in cognitive neuroscience to assess brain activity and the degree of communication between brain regions (functional connectivity) in response to stimuli and at rest. Combining behavioral and EEG modalities will allow me to test bilingualism’s effect on functional connectivity, as well as its consequences for functional efficiency, the minimum required neural activation to successfully perform a task. This will enable a detailed, evidence-based account of the protective effects observed in older-aged bilinguals, and how they are built from earlier life stages. By illuminating the relationship between multilingualism and resulting neurocognitive adaptations, BECAME will enable to capitalize on it as a health initiative, with manifold societal implications and the potential to be translated into actionable policies exploiting multilingualism to ameliorate effects of CA.

Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms

WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM)

Wheelchair users (WCU) are three to five times more inactive than the general population, leading to a high risk of developing preventable secondary conditions. Although physical activity (PA) guidelines have been specifically developed for WCU, we lack systematic approaches to implement them in practice, as well as valid algorithms to monitor PA change in WCU through sensor-based solutions. Accordingly, the overall scientific aim of the WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM) is to advance PA research and practice in WCU by developing valid digital markers for monitoring of and providing feedback on PA, paving the way for implementation and intervention. I will accomplish this through combining the complementary research fields of 1) behavioural intervention studies focusing on increasing PA in WCU (core competence University of British Columbia, UBC; outgoing phase) and 2) sensor-based PA monitoring (core competence Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU; returning phase – consolidated by non-academic placement at Maastricht Instruments, which develop research prototypes including PA monitors). WHAM’s scientific aim is achieved through three objectives: 1) Measure the effect of a pragmatic exercise intervention trial on self-reported physical activity levels and cardio-respiratory fitness, 2) Develop valid algorithms for tracking PA markers in WCU, and 3) Co-create a framework that outlines how PA can be conjointly monitored and provided feedback on in WCU. This fellowship will enable me to become established as an internationally recognized researcher in the field of “physical activity and disability”, while bringing together ongoing national disjointed research activities in this field. Altogether, my overall ambition is to contribute to reducing inequalities in daily-life participation among WCU compared to the rest of the population.

Per- og polyfluorerte stoffer (PFAS) er en stor gruppe menneskeskapte kjemikalier med høyt fluorinnhold som antas å ha negative helseeffekter. Kilder til PFAS kan være produksjon av vann-, varme- og flekkbestandige produkter og disse kjemikaliene er en del av hverdagen vår. PFAS påvirkning av biologiske systemer er ikke fullstendig forstått. Noen PFAS er antatt å øke risikoen for å utvikling av ikke-alkoholisk fettleversykdom (NAFLD) og øke risikoen for diabetes. 

For å forstå hvordan PFAS påvirker organene våre ønsker vi å bruke små laboratoriedyrkede organmodeller, kalt organoider. Disse miniatyrorganene kan dyrkes fra menneskelige stamceller og tilbyr et kontrollert miljø for å studere hvordan PFAS påvirker f.eks lever og bukspyttkjertelen vår, uten bruk av dyreforsøk.

For å studere helseeffekter må vi kunne måle nivået av biomolekyler som fettstoffer i leveren og hormoner i bukspyttkjertelen. Til dette trenger vi å utvikle analytiske verktøy for å måle effektene. Først vil vi bekrefte at når leverorganoidene eksponeres for enkelte PFAS-forbindelser utvikles det NAFLD-lignende sykdom ved å sammenligne den biokjemiske profilen (proteiner og metabolitter) til organoider av lever med PFAS-eksponerte organoider. Deretter vil vi utvide den analytiske verktøykassen for å undersøke hvilke metabolske veier som påvirkes, og om effekten er den samme i NAFLD-induserte og PFAS-eksponerte organoider. Vi vil også eksponere insulinproduserende bukspyttkjertelorganoider for PFAS for å undersøke effekten av PFAS på hormonproduksjon. Når effektene av PFAS-eksponering på lever- og bukspyttkjertel-organoider er etablert, vil organoidene bli samkultivert i en chip, og effektene av PFAS-eksponering vil bli undersøkt og sammenlignet med individuelle organoider.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are believed to contribute to metabolic diseases, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 1 diabetes. HE-POP aims to investigate the effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS), a type of POPs), on organ function in a controlled environment.

Organoids are multicellular laboratory-grown miniature organs, that are grown from stem cells. HE-POP will use organoids to examine how PFAS affects our organs and develop cutting-edge bioanalytical tools and methodology to measure these effects using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. HE-POP hypothesizes that PFAS negatively affects organ function, as evidenced by changes in hormone and lipid levels characteristic of NAFLD and type 1 diabetes. 

Organoids offer a controlled environment to study the effects of PFAS on the liver and pancreas, without the use of animal models. HE-POP aims to gain evidence of the negative effects of PFAS on organ function through controlled experiments on organoids and aid in understanding the biological mechanisms underlying NAFLD and type 1 diabetes.

HE-POP has fundaments in UN sustainable development goals, specifically #3, #12, and #14/15, seeking an understanding of diseases with worldwide prevalence, and understanding how POPs affect our life and surroundings and help enable the right regulatory actions and replacement chemicals.

HE-POP: Studying the Health Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Using Mass Spectrometry, Organoids, and Organ-On-A-Chip

Rundt 7% av norske 4-åringer har så store psykiske vansker at de kvalifiserer for en diagnose, men det tar ofte lang tid fra vanskene oppstår, til de blir oppdaget og barna får rett hjelp. Myndighetene har derfor lagt tydelige føringer for at de som jobber med barn, må vite hva de skal se etter og hvordan de skal gå frem for at barna skal få den hjelpen de trenger. I Norge går over 95% av barna i barnehage hvor pedagogene blir godt kjent med barna over tid i deres naturlige miljø og har utviklingssamtaler med de foresatte 1-2 ganger i året. Barnehagen skulle derfor være en ideell arena for tidlig oppdagelse av psykiske vansker. Det har imidlertid ikke vært tilgjengelig noen tilpasset metode for de arbeidsformene og terminologi som er vanlig i barnehagene. Vi har derfor utviklet metoden Dialogbasert tidlig oppdagelse (DBTO) i nært samarbeid med pedagoger og foreldre i 8 ulike barnehager. Metoden går ut på å bruke utviklingssamtalen mer systematisk ved at både foreldre og barnehagelærer på forhånd fyller ut et spørreskjema om mulige bekymringer de har hatt for barnets utvikling og trivsel de siste månedene. I samtalen kan de så utforske og forsøke å enes om forståelsen av barnet og om det er behov for ytterligere vurdering eller andre tiltak. Tilbakemeldingene under utviklingen og tidlig utprøving tyder på at metoden fungerer godt og oppleves som et nyttig verktøy i foreldresamarbeidet. For å få tydeligere dokumentert kunnskap om hvordan DBTO fungerer i barnehagene, har vi utviklet forskningsprosjektet PRO-DIALOG. Vi ønsker med det å få kunnskap om (1) hvordan DBTO fungerer som et screening-instrument, (2) hvor brukervennlig den er, (3) hvordan den påvirker tidspunkt for igangsetting av tiltak og (4) hvordan den påvirker utviklingen av den psykiske helsen til barna over tid. 12 barnehager er plukket tilfeldig ut til å gjennomføre metoden, mens 11 skal fungere som kontroller. Foresatte til rundt 300 barn som har tre år igjen av barnehagen, vil bli spurt om å delta.

There is an unambiguous call for early interventions at the municipal level for children at risk of developing mental health problems. However, there is a surprisingly absence of socially valid methods for detecting children in need of early support.
        The aim of the project is to establish the properties of such a novel method; Dialogue Based Early Detection (DBED). We will study its properties as a mental health screener, how well it is adapted in an ordinary kindergarten context, and whether it affects activation of interventions for mental health concerns and children’s future mental health.
        The novel aspect of DBED is the systematic assessment of the child’s development and well-being by the kindergarten teacher and his/her parents, and the subsequent dialogue that aims to explore and converge their understanding of the child and conclude whether there is a need for further assessment or supportive actions.
        Parents of approximately 300 children in 23 different kindergartens aged 2-3 years will be invited to participate for the three last years before school start and follow-up the next two years. The kindergartens will be randomized to an implementation group or a control group. Parents’ socio-demographic characteristics and data from parent-teacher meetings, initiated interventions, user satisfaction, parental stress, and child mental health will be collected biannually, as well as tape recordings from interviews about user experiences of parents and teachers.
        The most critical challenges of the project will be participation rate of the invited parents in addition to attrition due to the time pressures in a busy workday in the kindergartens, and willingness of the control parents to complete the repeated questionnaires. Appropriate measures are made to take those risks into account.

Promoting mental health in young children – a sustainable dialogue based approach in kindergartens (PRO-DIALOG)

Dette prosjektet, kalt Hukommelse for musikk, fokuserer på det økende antallet mennesker over hele verden som lever med demens, spesielt Alzheimer's sykdom (AD). AD starter typisk med hukommelsesproblemer og påvirker etter hvert daglige aktiviteter. Aktive musikkintervensjoner, spesielt sang, har vist positive effekter på humør, atferd og livskvalitet for personer med demens, men deres innvirkning på kognisjon er ikke godt forstått. Prosjektet har som mål å fylle dette kunnskapsgapet ved å studere effektene av å lære nye sanger på kognitiv, atferdsmessig og hjernemessig funksjon.

Studien vil omfatte hjemmeboende voksne over 65 år med AD fra Argentina, Østerrike og Norge. Deltakerne vil gjennomgå 5 måneder med intensiv musikalsk opplæring (to ganger i uken) og 5 måneder med minimal opplæring (en gang i måneden) i tilfeldig rekkefølge, med en to måneders pause imellom. Intervensjonene inkluderer å lære nye sanger med en personlig musikklærer. Generell kognisjon vil bli målt ved bruk av Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive (ADAS-cog), og hukommelse for musikk vil bli vurdert gjennom ulike metoder, inkludert atferdsoppgaver og hjerneaktivitet (EEG). Humør vil også bli evaluert i hver økt.

Målet er å inkludere 113 deltakere for å sikre pålitelig påvisning av meningsfulle effekter. Studien vil utforske hvordan humør og hukommelse for musikk bidrar til endringer i kognitive evner, og om disse effektene varierer basert på faktorer som kjønn, alder, AD-stadium, eller tidligere musikalsk opplæring og generell utdanning. Prosjektet vektlegger samarbeid mellom forskere, tjenesteytere og brukere for å sikre studiens relevans og anvendelighet.

The number of people living with dementia is increasing and is high in low, middle, and high-income countries. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia, manifests itself initially with cognitive impairment in memory domains, and later affects all activities of daily living. Active music interventions, particularly singing, can help to improve mood, behaviour problems, and quality of life. Too little is known about their effects on cognition, although some promising studies exist. The M4M project aims to fill this gap by measuring effects of learning new songs on clinical, behavioural and brain functioning. Specifically, M4M aims to examine changes in general cognitive functioning and memory for music in non-musician adults with AD undergoing intensive individual musical training based on singing novel songs, compared to minimal training.
        Home-dwelling adults with AD, 65 years or older, in 3 countries (Argentina, Austria, Norway), will receive 5 months of intensive intervention (2x/week) and 5 months of minimal intervention (1x/month), in random order, with a 2-month break in between. Interventions will entail learning new songs with an individual music teacher. At the end of each intervention period, general cognition will be measured with the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive (ADAS-cog) by a person who is unaware of the intervention received. Memory for music will be tested with observations, behavioural tasks, and brain responses (EEG). Mood will be assessed in each session. We aim to include 113 participants; this will help us to reliably detect clinically meaningful effects. We will also examine how mood and memory for music lead to changes in cognitive abilities, and whether effects depend on sex, age, AD stage, or previous musical training or general education. M4M will be conducted in close collaboration between academic researchers, service providers, and service users to ensure relevance and applicability.

Memory for Music: Effects of individual intensive musical training based on singing in non-musicians with Alzheimer’s disease

InterNASH - An intercellular-pathway therapeutic for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Smaksdidaktikk - Mat og kritisk tenkning

Midlene fra FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren fordelt på år

Midlene fra FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren fordelt på fylker

Midlene fra FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren fordelt på fagområde

Førsteamanuensis

Dette fireårige prosjektet, TASTE er et forskningssamarbeid mellom Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL), Universitet i Sørøst-Norge (USN), Aarhus Universitet (DPU) og Københavns Professionshøjskole (KP). SMAK har som mål å endre skole- og barnehagebarns evne til å ta informerte og reflekterte matvalg. Matopplæringsaktiviteter i den vestlige verden har nesten utelukkende fokusert på rigide helsenormer og hegemoniske forståelser av ernæring. En av konsekvensene av dette er at det er lite eller ingen plass igjen for barn til å reflektere over matopplevelsene sine. Aspektet med individuell og fellesskapsbasert smak er glemt, og selv når smak er inkludert, reduserer de fleste matforskere og lærere smaken til matens sensoriske egenskaper, det vil si surt, søtt, salt, bittert og umami. Smak er en kompleks og svært integrert opplevelse som involverer fysiologiske, psykiske og sosiale dimensjoner, som alle er like viktige. Derfor er det behov for å utdype vår kunnskap om, og undervisning i, smakskompetanse. For å undersøke hvordan smaksopplæring påvirker barn i moderne skoler og barnehager, forsøker SMAK å utvikle kritisk tenkning knyttet til smakskompetanser. Nyheten ligger i å bruke ulike smaksdimensjoner som et analytisk verktøy. Det viktigste er at SMAK vil utvikle og implementere en smaksdidaktikk som lar barn ta informerte og reflekterte matvalg basert på kritisk tenkning. SMAK vil involvere faget Mat og helse i grunnskolen, uteundervisning i både Norge og Danmark, og måltider og matrelaterte aktiviteter i barnehager i Norge. De didaktiske tilnærmingene til smaksundervisning svarer på oppfordringer til forskning i tidligere studier, som konkluderer med at barn må inkluderes i en mer kritisk reflekterende prosess. Ambisjonen er at SMAK skal bidra med forskningsbaserte, smaksdidaktiske tilnærminger til praksis. SMAK tar for seg flere av FNs bærekraftsmål og kritisk tenkning er en sentral kompetanse i UNESCOs Education for Sustainable Development Goals.

This proposal aims to change children’s ability to make informed and reflected food choices by developing critical thinking and taste competences for school and kindergarten children. Food education activities in the Western world have focused almost exclusively on rigid health norms and hegemonic understandings of nutrition. One of the consequences of this is that little or no space is left for children to reflect upon their eating experiences. The aspect of individual and community-based taste has been forgotten, and even when taste is included, most food scientists and teachers reduce taste to the sensory properties of food, i.e., sour, sweet, salty, bitter and umami. Taste is a complex and highly integrated experience involving physiological, psychic and social dimensions, all of which are equally important. There is a need to deepen our knowledge about, and teaching of, taste competence. Investigating how taste education impacts children in contemporary schools and kindergartens, TASTE strives to develop critical thinking connected to taste competences. We will use both qualitative and quantitative methods. The novelty lies within using different taste dimensions as an analytical tool. Most importantly, TASTE will develop and implement a taste didactic that will allow children to make informed and reflected food choices based on critical thinking. TASTE will involve the subject of food and health (FH) in primary school, outdoor teaching in Norway and Denmark, and meals and food-related activities in kindergartens in Norway. TASTE will be managed by HVL, with collaborators from USN (Norway), DPU (Denmark), and KP (Denmark). TASTE addresses several of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 3 (Good health and well-being), Goal 4 (Quality education) and Goal 17 (Partnerships to achieve the goals), as well as critical thinking, a central competence in UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development Goals.

TASTE Didactics - Food and Critical Thinking

Mennesker blir daglig utsatt for miljøforurensende stoffer som kan påvirke helsen.
Vi undersøkte helsemessige konsekvenser av persitente organiske miljøgifter (POPs), som er kjemikalier allestedsnærværende i vår matkjede. 
Vi fant at overvektige personer med forhøyede nivåer av POP er i høy risiko for kardio metabolske sykdommer sammenlignet med overvektige personer med lave POP nivåer.
Videre førte bruken av miljøforurensninger oss til å oppdage en ny biologisk funksjon av fibroblastvækstfaktoren 19 (FGF19), et hormon som utskilles av tarmen. Vi viste at kronisk FGF19 injeksjon øker skjelettmuskulaturmassen i mus og humane muskelceller behandlet med FGF19 blir større enn placebobehandlede humane celler. Vi prøver nå å utvikle et FGF19-basert stoff for å behandle muskelatrofi sykdommer.

Every day, the human body must defend itself against a myriad of potentially noxious xenobiotics (i.e. substances foreign to an entire biological system), and the health consequences of this exposure on our bodies have just begun to be investigated. 
      Insulin resistance is strongly linked to metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. Today, the documented global increase in insulin resistance-related metabolic diseases, together with the poor efficacy of current  preventive and therapeutic treatments, means that there is an urgent need to better understand the fundamental causes of insulin resistance. The present proposal represents a new direction that has not previously received much attention, but which is, in  fact, pervasive in modern life today: the impact of environmental pollutants on metabolic diseases.
     TRANSITION is a project designed to radically advance environmental medicine research and renovate our understanding of metabolic diseases. Although t he present proposal can be considered risk-taking because it challenges traditional beliefs about the primary factors involved in contributing to metabolic diseases, my previous and on-going work have provided proof-of-concept for the project's objectives . 
     TRANSITION is expected to not only fill important knowledge gaps in the field, but may also contribute to the development of a novel diagnostic tool that will detect the potential of chemicals to cause metabolic disruptions in humans. To achieve t his, TRANSITION aims to use a translational approach to establish links between in vitro and animal data with the real risks associated with human exposure to pollutants. In a project that bridges basic and applied research, TRANSITION proposes to use a m ulti-disciplinary approach that combines environmental toxicology, molecular biology and physiology, and to use original experimental models as well as a unique human patient study group.

Role of Xenobiotics in Metabolic Diseases: 
A Translational Approach

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with the body's endocrine system, thereby generating adverse effects. Recently, we demonstrated that persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are omnipresent in our environment, could lead to insulin re sistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. The molecular mechanisms behind these harmful effects are currently unknown.
SIGNED aims to understand how POPs, but also other endocrine disruptors like bisphenol A, can impair insulin action and  affect glucose and lipid metabolism. To resolve this challenging task, this research proposal aims to explore the following questions: 1) Are there specific insulin-sensitive cells primarily affected by environmental pollutants? 2) How do pollutants affe ct insulin action when present as single compounds and as mixtures? 3) What are the dose-response effects of endocrine disruptors? 4) Which signaling pathways contribute to insulin resistance? 
SIGNED will apply an integrative and multi-tiered approach th at will combine cutting edge molecular techniques with metabolic phenotyping in order to understand how changes at protein and gene levels (phosphorylation, expression, miRNA, epigenetics) can explain changes in metabolic response to environmental polluta nts. First, the in vitro mechanistic modes of action of pollutants as single compounds and mixtures will be deciphered in different insulin sensitive cells. Then, we will transfer our in vitro knowledge to in vivo models, and explore the potential signall ing pathways regulated by endocrine disruptors. 
Altogether, SIGNED will contribute to discover novel and important cellular and molecular mechanisms by which endocrine disruptors can induce insulin resistance, thereby opening new directions for the preve ntion and treatment of metabolic diseases.

Signaling Impairments GeNerated by Endocrine Disruptors.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic and hazardous chemicals omnipresent in our environment and food chains. These pollutants are of particular public health concern since their bio-accumulate in humans for many years because of their resistance  to metabolic degradation. Recently, exposure to POPs commonly found in food chains was found to contribute to insulin resistance and metabolic disorders like obesity, type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Yet, the molecular mechanisms by  which POPs interact with insulin and impair glucose/lipid homeostasis remain relatively unexplored. In the present project, we will investigate the mechanims by which POPs may mediate their deleterious health effects.

Searching the origin of the insulin resistance syndrome

Although marine food has long been known to have health properties, its roles and impacts on insulin sensitivity and metabolic diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, coronary heart diseases etc.) remain still unclear and worldwide debated.  Beside its potential health effects, recent reports highlight that marine food may contain a potentially harmful level of contaminants. Evaluating the balance between the risks and benefits of marine food consumption is very challenging and as a conseque nce, the public faces conflicting reports on the risks and benefits of marine food intake resulting in controversy and confusion over the role of marine food consumption. The present project will generate new knowledge regarding the health benefits and ri sks of marine food (salmon oil) intake.

Salmon and contaminants: impacts on insulin sensitivity and metabolic diseases

The incidence of Type 2 diabetes and obesity has increased dramatically worldwide and reaches today epidemic proportions. These metabolic diseases are at high risk of developing different complications leading to disability and premature death. Insulin re sistance (i.e. where a given concentration of insulin does not show the expected magnitude of effects on target cells) is a hallmark of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. 
Insulin action is strongly influenced by environmental factors like dietary habits. For i nstance, prolonged intake of a high-fat diet is a high risk factor for impaired insulin action. In addition, recent studies have reported that elevated consumption of sucrose, by elevating circulating levels of fatty acids, may play a role in the dramatic  increase of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. 
Tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA) is a sulfur-substituted fatty acid analogue which when included in a high-fat diet was recently found to prevent the development of whole-body insulin resistance. In the present re search project, we plan to further explore the physiological/cellular mechanisms behind this beneficial effect. In addition, we want to test the hypothesis that TTA intake prevents high-sucrose diet-induced insulin resistance. Given that TTA intake preven ts the development of insulin resistance, inclusion of TTA in our diet may represent a potential strategy to prevent the expansion of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

0 projects

FRIMEDBIO-Fri prosj.st. med.,helse,biol

Role of Xenobiotics in Metabolic Diseases: A Translational Approach

Awarded: NOK 3.8 mill.

Project Period: 2014-2019

Location: Vestland

BEDREHELSE-Bedre helse og livskvalitet

Signaling Impairments GeNerated by Endocrine Disruptors.

Awarded: NOK 5.9 mill.

Project Period: 2013-2016

Location: Vestland

MILPAAHEL-Miljøpåvirkning og helse

Searching the origin of the insulin resistance syndrome

Awarded: NOK 2.0 mill.

Project Period: 2011-2013

Location: Vestland

MILPAAHEL-Miljøpåvirkning og helse

Salmon and contaminants: impacts on insulin sensitivity and metabolic diseases

Awarded: NOK 3.0 mill.

Project Period: 2008-2011

Location: Vestland

IS-BILAT-Mobilitet Norge-USA /Canada

Effects of tetradecylthioacetic acid intake in the prevention of diet-induced insulin resistance

Awarded: NOK 0.23 mill.

Project Period: 2006-2007

Location: Vestland