Christina West

I lead the multidisciplinary SYMBIO group and the purpose of our research is to increase the understanding of how environmental exposures in fetal life and childhood affect the development of non-communicable diseases, focusing on allergy and asthma.

Our goal is to identify predictive biomarkers and to develop targeted interventions for the prevention and treatment of allergic diseases. To reach that goal, we conduct epidemiological studies, randomized controlled clinical trials and mechanistic studies with a specific focus on the interaction between nutrition and microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract and their importance for immune system development and health outcomes. The research is mainly funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, Region Västerbotten's Spearhead Funding and Central ALF, and the Ekhaga Foundation.

Projects
In the prospective epidemiological population based birth cohort study NorthPop www.northpop.se we study, among other things, the importance of early colonization patterns and dietary factors for allergy risk in the child. In the randomized controlled multicenter study “Restoration of Microbiota in Newborns” www.romans-studien.se, we investigate whether the controlled transfer of maternal bacteria to infants born by Caesarean section will restore the normal colonization patterns. We also study whether this intervention will reduce the child's risk of developing allergic diseases. In the randomized controlled multicenter study “Swedish study of immunotherapy of milk allergy in children” (SWITCH) we evaluate a Swedish protocol for oral immunotherapy with milk for the development of tolerance in children and adolescents with milk allergy.

SYMBIO team (PI West):
Dr Kotryna Simonyté Sjödin, Dr Andreas Sjödin, Dr Anna Winberg, Dr Åsa Strinnholm, Dr Stina Bodén, Post doc, Jonas Österlund, PhD student, Solveig Röisgård, PhD student, Carina Lagerqvist, Biomedical technician, Mona Svensson, Biomedical technician.
 
I am co-director of the infrastructure NorthPop, see www.northpop.se, for information on ongoing projects and collaborators.

Collaborators in the RoMaNs project:
Professor Lars Engstrand, Karolinska institutet
Professor Maria Jenmalm, Linköping University
Dr Maria Jonsson, Uppsala University
Dr Emma Fransson, Karolinska institutet
Professor Ingrid Mogren, Umeå University
Dr Anna-Carin Wihlbäck, Umeå University
  
Collaborators in the SWITCH project:
Docent Caroline Nilsson, Karolinska institutet
Docent Anna Nopp, Karolinska institutet
Professor Lennart Nilsson, Linköping University
Dr Emma Goksör, Gothenburg University

Collaborators Odontology, Umeå University:
Docent Pernilla Lif Holgersson
Senior professor Ingegerd Johansson
Dr Pamela Hasslöf
Dr Anders Esberg