NEWS Umeå professor Christian Hedberg is granted Proof-of-Concept funding by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation with 3.5 million SEK to develop products for the treatment of Cryptosporidiosis in ruminants and humans. The project is one of ten Swedish scientific life science initiatives that receives a grant.
Christian Hedberg is professor in organic chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University.
ImageMattias Pettersson“It feels very good and is a clear sign that we have the right quality in the research!”, says Christian Hedberg, professor of organic chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University.
Cryptosporidium is a zoonotic intestinal parasite that occurs primarily in ruminants such as cattle and sheep. In Sweden, 70–110 human cases of cryptosporidiosis are diagnosed each year. The infection is usually spread via contaminated drinking water or pool water, but also from person to person, especially among children. The symptom picture is characterized by abdominal pain and diarrhea and there is no specific treatment.
“Our goal is to create two different medicinal products against cryptosporidiosis, however based on the same molecule; one medicine for ruminants, mainly newborn calves, and one for humans”.
Christian Hedberg has an important collaboration with Fabrice Laurent who is head of research at INRAE, equivalent to Sweden's University of Agricultural Sciences but many times larger, located in Tours. He has spent his entire career studying parasitic infections such as coccidiosis and cryptosporidiosis and deciphering the immune response to these infections.
“Without Fabrice Laurent's expertise in Cryptosporidium biology and the access to biosecurity level 2 facilities for large animals (to contain infection that would otherwise spread to animals and humans), we would never have been able to do this type of research. In addition to mouse models, we have worked a lot with newborn lambs, which is experimentally demanding”, says Christian Hedberg.
Ten researchers from all over Sweden were provided support by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. What was common to the successful proposals in this first round of funding was that they presented exciting opportunities and that they were at the right stage of development for this call.
The purpose of the Proof of Concept grant is to bridge the gap from academic research to innovations in life science. The grant gives researchers the opportunity to develop their early-stage discoveries towards validated methods, products or processes and provides the opportunity to carry out activities that validate and accelerate the development of the project and prepare for commercialization.
In addition to funding, the project leaders will receive continued coaching support from the team at Wallenberg Launch Pad (WALP) to develop their innovation to commercial maturity.
Christian Hedberg, Umeå University receives 3.5 million SEK for the project: CryptoSafe - Selective anti-infectives to address Cryptosporidium infection.
