Research groups
For an overview of group leaders, please see the institute's department pages.

The purpose of the research is a better understanding of the close interplay nutrition and atherosclerosis.

Dysfunctional autophagy is linked to several pathophysiological conditions, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. The main focus of the “Simonsen Lab” is to characterize of the molecular mechanisms involved in cargo sequestration and autophagosome biogenesis during non-selective and selective types of autophagy with a long-term goal to identify novel targets for diagnosis or treatment of human disease.

Being the curator of The Schreiner Collection (the anthropological collection at the Department of Anatomy), the scientific research concentrates on skeletal analyses and identification, which include a close interdisciplinary collaboration with archaeologists, anthropologists, forensic specialists and the police.

By studying the subcellular localisation and the functions of the splice variants of PKA (cAMP-dependent protein kinase), we will better understand the specificity in the cAMP-PKA pathway and their potential association with disease.

Our main focus is methodological research in causal inference for observational and randomized studies in epidemiology and medicine.

The main goal of the research group is to elucidate mechanisms involved in vitamin A- and cAMP-mediated regulation of proliferation, DNA damage and apoptosis in lymphoid cells, in order to identify new targets for improved therapy of cancer and certain immune disorders.
Our overall aim is to understand how neuronal activity in the human brain is used for cognitive processes.

We investigate communication in health care in general, and in cancer care and medical education in particular

How does the brain work?
We investigate processes in the brains of awake, behaving animals in order to reveal mechanisms underlying perception, learning and memory.

The goal of this research group is to understand the mechanisms by which a plant based dietary pattern mediates protective effects.

Our primary interest is to study dietary prevention of cholesterol-induced inflammation in early atherosclerosis.

One of the main objectives of the research group is to develop, test and validate instruments that can be used to map diet and eating patterns in different age groups.

Our research is focused on development and evaluation of dietary assessment methods and dietary habits among children, adolescents and adults, and on associations between diet and various diseases.

The laboratory for experimental cardiology aims to identify molecular mechanisms that regulates short term and long term cardiac function. The goal is to develop future treatment for cardiac disease by detailed understanding of how signal molecules controls ion transporters and gene regulatory proteins.

The research group GliaLab explores functions of astrocytes, the starshaped glial cells, in the healthy brain, sleep and in neurological disorders.

Our research is primarily focused on optimizing nutritional status among vulnerable population groups as well as among patients with chronic diseases. We reach out both domestically as well as to Southern Africa.

We study changes in proteoglycans in inflammation and obesity and in kidneys in relation to diabetes and atherosclerosis. We also work with nutrition and health for persons with intellectual disabilities

A leading research group in the field of mental health and work among medical students and physicians.

We want to improve our understanding of the pathophysiological events underlying acute ischemic injury of the heart and the subsequent remodelling which may lead to heart failure. We work towards identifying new therapeutic targets to reduce these injuries. We also work to improve organs for transplantation with focus in ischemia reperfusion injury.

We study the cardiovascular control mechanisms in healthy subjects and patients. We investigate the interaction between circulation and respiration, control of cerebral blood flow, and the interaction between endothelial and autonomic functions.

The Immunbiological Laboratory's focus is on immune cell communication and function, and the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms causing autoimmune disease.

Our lab studies how the brain turns sensory information into perceptions. The physical stimuli reaching our eyes and ears are very complex, yet our perception of the outer world appears rather simple. To understand how we are able to interact with the physical world so efficiently, we study the fundamental principles by which brain circuits operate.
Our focus is to understand the role of intracellular lipid droplets and how alterations in these may lead to various lipid-mediated diseases.

The research group works with methodological problems in applied epidemiologic research and in high-dimensional data situations. We have in particular focused on problems related to measurement error and misclassification. However, lately, more general problems related to analysis of high-dimensional data have been explored.

Our group uses an experimental approach to investigate the cognitive and physiological mechanisms underlying the experience, processing, and consequences of different kinds of reward.
The complexity of medical knowledge and practices is growing. Our research group studies how we can effectively meet this challenge through new strategies in education and communication.

Our research group investigates how macronutrient metabolism can be used to regulate inflammation associated with obesity and obesity related comorbidities.
We study how genes and lipids regulate diet induced metabolic diseases.

The Laboratory for Molecular Neuroscience investigates molecular mechanisms involved in physiological processes such as cell volume regulation, gliovascular signaling, maintenance of the blood-brain-barrier integrity and role of the brain extracellular matrix in normal brain function.

Natural killer (NK) cells eliminate cancer cells and cells infected with several viruses and bacteria, while sparing normal cells .

The Laboratory of Neural Development (NDEVOR) is dedicated to the study of the functional development of brain and spinal cord networks with special focus on motor and premotor circuitry.
The research group focuses on the study of intrathecal immune responses in neurological diseases, in particular multiple sclerosis (MS). Through this, we aim to understand disease mechanisms to contribute to more specific therapeutic approaches.

The Neurotransporter Group focuses on the transporter proteins moving transmitter amino acids (GABA, glutamate and glycine) across cell membranes, and on the roles of these transporters in normal brain physiology and disease.

We are interested in understanding chromatin features that pattern 3D genome architecture during adipogenesis and breast cancer tumorigenesis.
Our research focuses on the nuclear envelope, the main line of defense for our genome.

The focus of this research group is to understand the roles of foods on growth, development, as well as prevention of life style diseases such as diabetes, and coronary heart disease. We are investigating the mechanisms of cellular transport and effects on cellular growth, function and metabolism of dietary lipids and other food constituents.

We study the relationship between dietary factors and various conditions and chronic diseases, with special focus on frailty and on breast and colon cancer.

Our primary research focus is to understand the biological mechanisms of fatty acids on human health. We utilize large scale datasets from controlled dietary intervention studies to define molecular profiles which can be used to predict and understand who some individuals responds better to intervention than others.
Uncertainty is an inherent part of all scientific activity and the generally agreed framework for handling uncertainty is the use of probability. Our lab focuses on enabling and making inferences with the aid of probabilistic models, with a wide range of applications in life sciences, technology and engineering.

Our group investigates the interplay between psychological, biological and social factors in patients with chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, sleep disorders and depression), including the development and testing of interventions aimed at improving health and quality of life.

Public Health Nutrition is the promotion of good health through primary prevention of nutrition-related illness in the population.
Our main research focus is on receptors that are expressed by cells of the innate immune system.

We develop methods to integrate multi-omics and other data, e.g. clinical data or drug characteristics, for predicting a patient's prognosis or treatment response. In this way we contribute to the development of novel cancer treatments.

The research group aims at developing statistical methods for analyzing data with complex structure, high-dimensional and/or intrinsically smooth (functional).

Innovative computationally intensive inference for complex stochastic models in the life sciences. We develop statistical methodology motivated by specific problems in science, technology, industry and society.

My group studies how neurons in the mammalian brain communicate with each other at synapses. We use advanced electrophysiological, imaging and computer modeling techniques to analyze synaptic signaling mechanisms in presynaptic axons and postsynaptic dendrites.

Neurons of the brain communicate through contact points called synapses. This research group focuses on synapses and their highly developed capacities for structural and functional change.

The main focus of our research is regulation of adaptive immunity. We are particularly interested in signaling in activated and experienced T cells, as these cells influence individual susceptibility to autoimmune diseases as well as cancer.

The goal of our research is to reduce the level of cardiovascular disease by developing new diagnostic methods and treatment strategies.