Last week I wrote a debate article of approximately 9000 spaces length, sent it to Expressen, the biggest Swedish evening newspaper, they asked it to be shortened to 3500 spaces, and then it got published. YAH. Why? They probably get 20-40 proposals a day. Well, I guess a lot of those other ones are negativist angry pieces, that there are too many off in these crazy days. So what did we propose?
1) Close all schools immediately. Even though kids do not get very sick, they do catch the virus and do spread it. Kids of parents with key jobs exempt of course…
2) massive testing to isolate cases (a no brainer, still people are arguing against it, scary)
3) fever scanning, to further target testing of anyone with typical symptoms
4) continued social distancing over many months to come, no shaking hands, meetings at a distance.
I am following the COVID-19 development carefully, partly for personal reasons, partly as a curious scientist with sometimes an epidemiological mindset. Today, 12th March 2020, we received the news that Trump blocks travel from Europe, except the UK, to avoid importing COVID-19 cases to the country. At the same time, the domestic response is apalling.
China, on the other hand, took drastic measures on the 23rd January, and now, about six weeks later, they have almost NO NEW CASES in the country. Because they acted.
Also the containment of cases in Singapore was exceptional.
But when it comes to Europe, it takes 10000 cases in Italy for the country to react.
Seems we need to take three measures:
1) No shaking hands
2) Disinfect your hands regularly
3) Don’t meet if you really don’t need to
4) Use mask when in public places. This measure has not been popular because scientists claim it isnt proven it works. Well, it seems to have worked in China, in combination with measures 1-3… So why not? It might not be important for the individual, but perhaps for the population.
OK, I am ready to hybernate if necessary, but will do so reaching out by blogging and perhaps VLOGGING 🙂
Not a single blogpost since 2015. Shame on me. BUT, now it is time to come alive again. The focus of this blog will be on Extracellular Vesicles (EV: exosomes, microvesicles and beyond). Just recently, a lecture of mine on the topic of EV diversity was posted on youtube, and you can see it here:
There is so much to discuss around extracellular vesicle research right now. We are starting to understand their diversity, even if they come from a single cell, and there are likely to be many subpopulations of vesicles released from cells by different mechanisms, and with different biological function. EV are also becoming important clinically, with a lot of biomarker discovery being presented, and clinical medicines being developed soon to be tested in patients.
What is exceptionally important is that we maintain communicating within the scientific community. I was invited to the AACR meeting in San Diego in April to give an educational lecture. Now the meeting is “postponed” (www.aacr.org). Further, an ISEV.ORG workshop coming up very soon in Paris is postponed. I just think we should meet and talk, and if travel and other factors prevents us to meet face-to-face, let’s just meet on the internet.
I will soon set up my youtube channel, where I will discuss EVs in general, but hopefully also interview people about their science and development of EV research. Stay tuned!
Two weeks ago, Barack Obama presented a “precision medicine initiative”. But is what the money go to really “precision medicine”?
It seems that a major sum, $130 million, will go to the NIH to develop a database of 1 million individuals with genomic data and hospital records. That is $130 per included individual. How can that be even a remotely sufficient investment, as genome sequencing is $1000 per person?
$70 million will go to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to scale up efforts to identify genomic drivers in cancer, supporting novel more personalized medicines. Now, that is obviously a “precision medicine” initiative, as more effective and hopefully less toxic medicines will be developed.
$15 million will go to database searchability and protection of personal data. Nothing to be said about that…
In summary, I have mixed feelings about this initiative. Specifically, I am skeptical that sequencing a million genomes will help the development of precision medication. Understanding the diversity in the genome may be an interesting question in its own right, but the last twenty years of genome research has shown that very few diseases are directly connected to specific sequences or “single-nucleotide polymorphisms” in our DNA.
To develop novel precision medicines we rather need to understand the diversity of specific diseases, including asthma, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases and inflammatory diseases, which scientists today call “disease phenotypes” or “endotypes”. By understanding molecular mechanisms involved in subgroups of disease, more personalized and efficient precision medications can be developed for future generations. Genetics will not be the answer, but more comprehensive and translational approaches are necessary, first describing molecular mechanisms of subgroups of disease, thereafter developing treatments targeting those specific mechanisms. That would be a true precision medicine investment.
Over the last few years I have been quiet here on the WordPress blog, after having been quite active on http://www.isevmeeting.org and facebook, primarily in relationship to the extracellular vesicles scientific community. I hope to revive this blog though, with more personal comments on science and personal reflections on life in general.
Right now, I am looking very much forward to lead a course specifically focusing on extracellular vesicles, at University of Palermo (July 8-12). Is this the first real university course on extracellular vesicles (“exosomes and beyond”), directed towards university students and not PhD students or scientists??? Thank you Riccardo Alessandro for inviting me to Palermo!
After that, a few weeks of rest awaits… LOOKING FORWARD!! The first half of 2013 has been quite intense…
It was such a fantastic moment to hand over a once in a lifetime award to Bill Frankland during the openinig in Istanbul. Bill is almost 100 years old, and the price was a celebration of 100 years of immunotherapy (3 minutes 52 seconds into the clip).
Thank you Bill for making the effort to come to Istanbul to receive this acknowledgement, and to celebrate the history of immunotherapy together with the EAACI family.
It has been great to be the President of EAACI, and it was a pleasure of opening the 3oth congress, acknowledging the long efforts in immunotherapy by Professor Bill Frankland (Albert William Frankland), and awarding Gabrielle Pauli, Tony Frew (Anthony J Frew), Erika von Mutius and Gianni Marone.
Here is a movie of my opening words, and below the scribble that I had on my iPad to remember what to say…
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guest, dear colleagues,
I warmly welcome you to the 30th congress of the european academy of allergy and clinical immunology in Istanbul.
One word that comes to mind INSPIRATION
to stand here in front of you all.
YOU the closest friends
YOU the body and soul of EAACI,
YOUR presence here makes EAACI great.
ACTUALLY the purpose congress is INSPIRATION
Inspired by each others
By leader – to interact
Most importan YOUNG scientists
There are several individuals especially acknowledge for developing the EAACI congress.
Ömer and turkey team
Cezmi, christian, lars paulsen
The hq susanne congrex team
2011, is INSPIRATIONAL YEAR
exactly 100 years ago
10th 1911, Leonard Noon the Lancet.
EAACI is celebrating many ways
the scientific programme, plenary session, events and schools
Today, special day
We will present the Noon Award.
Once only
A process of nomination and voting:
One of the most inspirational individuals in the field of allergy ever, a past secretary general of eaaci, a past president of eaaci, our grandfather of allergy, who published the first controlled study in immunotherapy.
Who am i talking about? Of course a person that himself is turning 100 years old next year, Professor William Frankland.
Bill:
true inspiration to us all,
true allergist,
grew your own allergens in the early days. You built the base of our specialty,
for this we will be thankful for ever.
The Noon award to Bill Frankland
I must say that just handing over this award was an honour in itself
Four EAACI awards every year
Other inspirations
Four exceptional individuals
gabrielle pauli
Anthony frew
Erika von mutius
Gianni marone
Walking up
Gp Clements von pirquet mol allergol
Ajf charles blackley backbone built much activities EDUCATION and SPECIALTY
erika vM leading epidemiologist, hygene hypothesis
We have had an exceptional evening at the 30th EAACI congress, opening ceremony. We have handed out the once in a lifetime award for contributions in immunotherapy to Bill Frankland, to celebrate the 100 years of immunotherapy after the Noon paper in the Lancet. We have had a great opening ceremony in the emotional heart of Turkish society. And we had a welcome reception outdoors without being exposed to the rain the metereologists were talking about…
Thank you Ömer, and Turkey, and all friends of EAACI
It is with huge pleasure that I can welcome all readers to the 30th EAACI congress in Istanbul, and the opening ceremony today on the 11th June 2011. Today it is 100 years + one day since Leonard Noon published his historic paper on Immunotherapy “PROPHYLACTIC INOCULATION AGAINST HAY FEVER” in the Lancet. EAACI is celebrating this in many ways, one being the handing over of the “once only” Leonard Noon award, to the investigator that first published a controlled trial in immunotherapy, William Frankland. Bill was also a Secretary General and a President of EAACI, around 50 years ago, and still energetic and ambitious on his 99th year. The 2011 EAACI congress promises to be a fantastic event, with the best scientific programme possible, in the exciting surrounding of Istanbul. Thank you to Ömer Kalayci, the Congress President, as well as Lars Paulsen and Christian Virchow, who have coordinated the Scientific programme committee to produce this excellent programme. And also huge thanks to Cezmi Akdis, the current vice President of Congresses, Susanne Rothschild, the congress manager of EAACI, as well as the Congrex team, that have all contributed to create this exceptional event. I look forward to seeing you in Istanbul in the next few days.
Stating ”race” enforces racism? Should the US Census ask people to state “race”?
On the web site of Time magazine, US Census Bureau Director Robert Groves is interviewed http://ti.me/jxmHcq. He is reporting that a large number of US citizens state more than one race. In Europe we do not state “race” when counting the population, because it is so difficult to understand what it means. And it supports feelings such as racism.
The New York Times had a series of articles on the topic earlier in the year http://nyti.ms/hf5trL. More and more Americans do not know what to tick when they have to state “race”. Personally I think the term “race” should be skipped, as it more describes social structures and history, rather than genetically important differences. Actually, race implies that the individuals “phenotype” is related to “geographic ancestry” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(classification_of_humans). The definition is certainly drifting away from the genetic definition, towards a more social explanation. However, it is also discussed that scientific studies through the twentieth century has found no biological basis for the classification of race, and perhaps a primary factor in racial classification has been the social conventions established during the colonial period. For example, what is “African American”. There is no clear definition to be found, except “at least one ancestor from sub-saharan Africa”. If we reverse that definition, it is absolutely clear that Barack Obama is IRISH (next time, plese do not tick “black or African American”! Actually, tick nothing…
I think the US Census should stop requiring citizens to state“race” because it is a term that enforces racism http://bit.ly/ilkptl. One could just as well describe “culture”, because that would better explain how society develop and how cultural interactions shape the world. Most NY-times readers seem to agree http://nyti.ms/e6tE6k.
Jan Lötvall 