Data Driven Life Science (DDLS) – Department of Medical Biosciences
The Department of Medical Biosciences is ideally situated to be in the front-line for the development of diagnostics and precision medicine. The combination of local facilities and infrastructure makes the department an important node for translational research at Umeå University. The Department of Medical Biosciences is an excellent research environment for a DDLS-WCMM fellow and would fulfil the requirement of the DDLS national program.
The Department of Medical Biosciences has three main research areas (Pathology, Clinical Chemistry and Medical and Clinical Genetics). The research includes a wide range of disciplines from molecular medicine, pathophysiology and diagnostics to clinical and epidemiological studies and AI. The overall theme is the use of molecular methods to study biological processes in disease. The Department is a node for Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) and the national SciLifeLab platform for Diagnostics Development (Clinical Genomics), with the purpose to improve diagnostics and individualized treatment in healthcare, and to meet the need from researchers to adapt the use of HTP techniques. The Department is closely integrated with Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital where clinical diagnostic on human tissue is performed. This enables a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to molecular diagnostics and precision medicine with availability to a wide array of samples, data, and biobanks.
The research has a strong focus towards improved diagnostics and individualized treatment by identifying biomarker signatures and genetic signatures primarily for cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological disease. Using local and regional biobank resources detailed profiles based on genetics, epigenetics, gene expression, proteomics, molecular epidemiology, and clinical data has been generated. The process is ongoing and extensive databases with detailed characterization are today available. For more than 10 years the Department of Medical Biosciences has also been one the hosts for U-CAN, which is a national strategic research area for biobanking and research of Cancer samples.
The staff at the Department of Medical Biosciences provides a critical mass of scientists with whom a new WCMM fellow could find common ground for cooperation. A staff of around 80 persons with 16 active professors/associate professors, two assistant professors, more than 25 postdocs/senior research engineer (senior postdocs) and about 15 PhD students. In addition, we have an effective administrative staff, which is instrumental in keeping the paper work-load down for the research staff.
The department is part of the Translational Research Centre (TRC) at Umeå University with extensive collaborations with research groups at other departments in Umeå as well as nationally and internationally. In addition, the department has a close collaboration with the Departments of Clinical Genetics, Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pathology in Laboratory Medicine at the University hospital.
