SciLifeLab and the COVID-19 Pandemic
By engaging the entire SciLifeLab research community and utilizing our national infrastructure, SciLifeLab has delved into creating world-class capabilities for analyzing and inhibiting COVID-19 at the molecular, cellular, patient, population and environmental level. To achieve this, a number of initiatives have been launched, all of which focus on promoting national collaborations, team science and sharing data openly.
Recent news
2022-05-18: Omikron variant BA.2 predominant in Sweden already in early March
2022-03-14: Call for new Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness capabilities launched
2022-03-03: Immunization strategies can augment COVID-19 vaccine efficacy
2022-02-09: Omicron variant BA.2 first noted in wastewater from Malmö and Kalmar
2021-12-16: The SciLifeLab Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness program focuses on Omicron
2021-10-14: SciLifeLab part of BY-COVID – new EU project for pandemic preparedness
2021-09-22: Baricitinib reduces 30-day mortality in older adults with COVID-19 pneumonia
2021-06-29: Metabolic activators accelerates COVID-19 recovery
2021-06-24: Cost-effective method for monitoring new COVID-19 strains
2021-06-24: A curious mind took Vicent Pelechano to Sweden – and helped him scale up COVID-19 screening worldwide
2021-06-21: SciLifeLab contributes to advance Sweden’s pandemic laboratory preparedness
Background
When it in early 2020 was clear that Sweden had been struck by COVID-19, SciLifeLab quickly launched several initiatives to contribute. SciLifeLab’s infrastructure prioritized projects with the potential to generate important knowledge in the fight against the pandemic.
Through generous funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, rapid expansion of virus testing and diagnostics was made possible, both through sequencing and antibody testing, to aid health care at the request of the Swedish Public Health Agency. The funding was also crucial for a comprehensive collection of samples from COVID-19 patients, for immunological studies, as well as for the launch of an open call to nationally coordinate and support research efforts focused on COVID-19.
Thanks to additional support from KAW, SciLifeLab and KAW’s national research program on COVID-19 continues in 2021–2022, expanding with a program on vaccine research, and also with development of SciLifeLab’s infrastructure resources and capacity for pandemic preparedness.
Read more about the initiatives below.
Report: Reflections on SciLifeLab efforts combating COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of SciLifeLab as a national hub for Life Science researchers and infrastructure was leveraged in the work to fight the pandemic. This document presents an overview of the actions taken and the difficulties that were exposed. We also address the lessons learned and how we take these into account in an effort to build better pandemic preparedness in the future, as part of the national task assigned to SciLifeLab for the years 2021-2024.
Contact us
Reach the team coordinating the Covid-19 efforts on: covid19program@scilifelab.se
General questions regarding SciLifeLab and our regular operations
info@scilifelab.se
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and other collaborators
The SciLifeLab COVID-19 efforts are made possible through the support of Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, who has awarded funding to address questions related to the ongoing pandemic, both in setting up large-scale COVID-19 testing and analysis capabilities, as well as facilitating research to gain better insight into the disease.
SciLifeLab’s efforts are coordinated with Folkhälsomyndigheten, the healthcare regions, Akademiska sjukhuset, Karolinska University Hospital, Genomic Medicine Sweden and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. SciLifeLab’s host universities Uppsala University, Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology are also engaged in the COVID-19 efforts at SciLifeLab.
Svensk översättning
Under vårvintern 2020 initierade SciLifeLab skyndsamt flera insatser för att bidra till kampen mot pandemin. SciLifeLab:s egen infrastruktur prioriterade projekt med potential att generera viktig kunskap i kampen mot coronaviruset.
Genom generös finansiering från Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse möjliggjordes snabb expansion av virustestning och diagnostik, både genom sekvensering och antikroppstestning, för att bistå hälso- och sjukvården på uppdrag av Folkhälsomyndigheten. Finansieringen var även avgörande för en omfattande insamling av prover från covid-19-patienter för immunologiska studier, samt lanserandet av en öppen utlysning för att nationellt koordinera och stödja forskningsinsatser med fokus på covid-19.
Enskilda projekt har genom forskningsprogrammet kopplats samman och satsningen har möjliggjort såväl strategiska samarbeten som öppen datadelning, med stöd av den genom SciLifeLab koordinerade dataportalen för covid-19.
SciLifeLab:s nationella forskningsprogram gällande covid-19 fortsätter under 2021–2022 tack vare ytterligare bidrag från Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse. Med hjälp av dessa bidrag har SciLifeLab:s covid-19-satsning även utökats med ett program inom vaccinforskning. Planering pågår för utveckling av SciLifeLab:s infrastrukturresurser och kapacitet för laboratorieberedskap för pandemier samt projekt inom datadriven livsvetenskap (DDLS) med bland annat fokus på covid-19.
Detaljerad information på engelska om respektive insats via bilder med länkar ovan.