This department is composed of 15 research groups and 4 project groups. We are characterized by excellence in enabling technologies within molecular and computational biology and a strong focus on curiosity driven basic science with a track record of ground-breaking research. Fundamental discoveries of enzyme activities have inspired a wide research portfolio spanning early development to aging and implications for human disease during the entire life course.

This strong focus on fundamental research has resulted in the section being awarded a Centre of excellence, Centre for Embryology and Healthy Development (CRESCO) that started 1st July 2023.

Our research strategy is aligned with the overall aims at Oslo University Hospital and Clinic of Laboratory Medicine. In addition we have priorities in three pillars; ground-breaking research, development of talent and innovation.

Head of department: Fredrik Müller
Head of research section: Hilde Loge Nilsen

News:

News about our researchers

Research groups:

RNA/DNA base modifications	Stem Cells, Ageing and Cancer	Fungal and Bacterial Infections Research Group
Cellular Responses to DNA Damage	Cell and tissue dynamics	Genome and Epigenome Regulation in Embryo Development, Ageing and Disease
Structural Biology and DNA repair	Clinical Virology Research Group	Stem Cell Dynamics and RNA Regulation
Laboratory for Dynamic Gene Regulation	Virology Research Group	Genome Instability in Ageing and Disease
Targeting tumors of central nervous system	Genome Dynamics	Bacterial Defense Systems and Antimicrobial Resistance Group

Mari Kaarbø, Group leader of the Virology Research Group, and collaborators report a case of sustained HIV remission following stem cell transplantation from a CCR5Δ32/Δ32 donor.

This paper describes a 63-year-old man living with HIV who received such a transplant from his brother to treat myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder. After the transplant, his blood and immune system were entirely replaced by his brother’s cells. Two years later, he stopped taking HIV medication.

The group of Dr. Pierre Chymkowitch (Dept. of Microbiology, OUS and IBV, UiO), and their collaborators at NCMBM and IMB, have made a step forward to understanding how fat cells keep their identity and can be reprogrammed. Published in Nucleic Acids Research, the work demonstrates that a brief pharmacological inhibition of SUMOylation using the small molecule TAK-981, when combined with the PPARG agonist rosiglitazone, stably "imprints" a beige differentiation fate in human adipose stem cells. Unlike typical white fat cells that store energy, beige cells can burn fat to generate heat through a process called adaptive thermogenesis or beiging.

Deo Prakash Pandey, leader of the "Targeting tumors of central nervous system" research group at the Department of Microbiology, and collaborators have identified a promising new therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor in adults.
Glioblastoma cells, particularly glioblastoma stem cells, rely on abnormally high transcriptional activity driven by neurodevelopmental transcription factors. The study shows that these stem cells are selectively vulnerable to inhibition of the transcriptional cyclin-dependent kinases CDK12 and CDK13, while inhibition of other transcriptional kinases such as CDK7 and CDK9 results in broader, non-specific toxicity.

This project aims to combat the most common cause of acute viral hepatitis, zoonotic hepatitis E, in a One Health perspective. More than 30 European countries participate with a total of 150 members joining.
Susanne Dudman is representing Norway and is leading work group 2, focusing on clinical management. The group aims to establish robust and comparable clinical trial frameworks, standardize outcome measurements, and support the identification and development of antiviral therapies.

Annikka Polster, Nicola Montaldo and Hilde Nilsen, from the Genome instability in disease and ageing group at OUS, has together with their collaborators identified a blood-based “signature” that may reveal Parkinson’s disease (PD) 10–20 years before classic motor symptoms like tremors and stiffness appear. The results were recently published in NPJ Parkinson’s Disease.
Parkinson’s is usually diagnosed only after many of the brain cells that control movement are already lost. This study asked whether early molecular warning signs can be detected in the blood long before diagnosis. 

Madeleine Fosslie, researcher in the Genome and Epigenome Regulation in Embryo Development, Ageing and Disease group at the Department of Microbiology, and Erkut Ilaslan, researcher at University of Copenhagen, are first authors on this Nature Communications paper. This study sheds light on the fundamental biology of how the genome is restructured and reprogrammed during the transition from egg to early embryo.
This study examines how DNA is organized and regulated in mouse egg cells and very early embryos by following a protein called H2A.Z, one of the proteins around which DNA is wrapped inside the cell. 

Lorena Arranz, leader of the Stem Cells, Ageing and Cancer group and Deputy Director of CRESCO, and Vincent Cuminetti, researcher in her group, are first and last authors of this Nature Communications paper.

The team investigated a cell surface sensor called SUCNR1 (the succinate receptor) and how it affects blood stem cells and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). They found that SUCNR1 acts like a brake on blood stem cell activity and helps prevent leukemia from progressing.