Karolinska

The FLAVIOLA project was co-funded by the European Union.

→KI

Karolinska Institutet, Dept.of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care

Karolinska University Hospital, Solna
S-171 76 Stockholm
Sweden

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Partner of WP1, 3

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Jon Lundberg,
Eddie Weitzberg

Characterisation of the interaction between flavanols and the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway with special focus on vascular function and flavanol kinetics and metabolism.

Lundberg and Weitzberg have been studying nitric oxide (NO) biology for >15 years with a translational approach. They have discovered a new pathway for the generation of NO in mammals, in which the inorganic anions nitrate and nitrite are reduced in vivo to form NO. This pathway has important physiological and therapeutical implications. Most recently Lundberg and Weitzberg have discovered that polyphenols greatly enhance NO generation from nitrate and nitrite. The lab has all state of the art technology for in vivo and in vitro measurements of NO and related compounds. They have a fully equipped large animal lab, and also great experience with human studies.

Jon Lundberg (MD, PhD) is full professor in Pharmacology at KI. His group consists of 2 lab technicians, 2 post-docs and 4 PhD students. Prof. Lundberg has a prominent international reputation within the nitric oxide field and has published more than 100 articles and book chapters related to NO, with several articles in top ranked journals such as NEJM, Nature Med, Lancet, JCI and Nature Reviews. He is in the steering committé for the EU6 “Eicosanox” project. Lundberg is a founder of Aerocrine AB, a biotech company that was recently listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange Market.

Eddie Weitzberg (MD, PhD) is a senior consultant and full professor in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at KI. His group consists of 2 lab technicians, 2 post-docs and 3 PhD students. Dr Weitzberg has a long-standing research in vascular biology and inflammation with more than 100 articles on NO and endothelin, with several publications in top ranked journals such as as NEJM, Nature Med, J Clin Invest and Nature Reviews. Weitzberg is a founder and former president of Aerocrine (see above).

KI is a world leading medical university with an outstanding international reputation. KI integrates state-of-the art patient care at the Karolinska Hospital with excellent basic science. KI upholds a long tradition of translational research between basic and clinical researchers in which the Lundberg/Weitzberg collaboration is an excellent example. The Dept. of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care is integrated in the Dept of Physiology and Pharmacology which facilitates interaction between research in clinical medicine and cardiovascular biology. Within the department expertise in molecular biology, physiology, pharmacology, in vitro and in vivo animal models as well as experience to perform clinical studies generate excellent conditions for translational research.