Madeleine Rådinger has been awarded SEK 3 million by the Vårdal Foundation. She and her associates will study differences in the signaling pathways of the immune system between people with allergic and non-allergic asthma.
“The decision means a great deal to me,” says Dr. Rådinger, Associate Professor at the Institute of Medicine. “It is the largest single research grant I have received and will enable me to pay my doctoral student for three years.”
After receiving her degree, Professor Rådinger completed her postdoc at the NIH Laboratory of Allergic Diseases in Maryland, studying the way that mast cells transmit signals during allergic reactions. For the past five years, she has been affiliated with the Krefting Research Centre, co-financed by the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.
She and her associates recently demonstrated that mice with a particular type of microRNA, a small noncoding molecule that regulates protein expression of the genes, have excellent protection against allergic asthma. The findings were published online last December in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“Now we will build on those results to explore the role of the molecule in the immune system’s defense against allergic asthma,” Professor Rådinger says.
Asthma can be categorized in accordance with a series of clinical characteristics. The project will also examine differences at the cellular level in the signaling pathways of people with allergic and non-allergic (intrinsic) asthma.
“Much of current asthma research is based on people with allergies,” Professor Rådinger says. “We want to explore the regulation of their immune systems in comparison with people who have intrinsic asthma. We hope to raise basic awareness about the various types of asthma in order to improve treatment methods for the individual groups of patients who are affected.”
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology article
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