SciLifeLab – a unique collaboration for better health
Yesterday I was invited to speak at a symposium here at Karolinska Institutet’s Aula Medica: “SciLifeLab – A national Resource for Life Science”. This was a satellite symposium to the Nordic Life Science Days 2018. Among the numerous attendees were representatives of a range of Nordic universities, organizations, and life science companies.
SciLifeLab is is a national resource but is also a part of the Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science Cluster – a unique arena for experimental, translational, epidemiological and clinical research that links universities with advanced laboratories, registers and biobanks, academic specialist centers, patient organizations, industry and health care clinics within the greater Stockholm and Uppsala regions. SciLifeLab has quickly become a core scientific resource for Sweden’s thriving life science environment.
The laboratory was created through a coordinated effort by four universities in Stockholm and Uppsala: Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Uppsala University, and is one of three national infrastructure research platforms.
A living example
What we see here is a living example of public, private, health care and academic collaboration. Scientific and medical breakthroughs don’t happen in a vacuum. They are born from the exchange of ideas that are nurtured through cross-sectoral collaboration. This is why the mission of SciLifeLab holds so much promise.
One of the most important goals of SciLifeLab is to translate basic knowledge into clinical practice. The translation process provides opportunities for industry engagement, from basic and applied research to proof of concept, prototyping and implementation in the health care setting.
The infrastructure at SciLifeLab can be put to good use for the entire life science sector; from agriculture and ecology, via molecular biology, cell biology and microbiology to bioenergy and archeology. Sharing resources fosters truly collaborative research between institutions and disciplines.
Located on campus
SciLifelab at Solna is just a stone’s throw away from Biomedicum, and the Karolinska University Hospital is just across the street. This ensures proximity and access to basic and clinical research environments and to established infrastructure for genomics and proteomics, drug discovery and diagnostics, as well as advanced imaging, bioinformatics, and other technologies.
I am happy to see that SciLifeLab is developing and thriving and remain convinced that this collaborative endeavor has a huge potential – a potential that we are only beginning to realize. Through our engagement in SciLifeLab we will be better poised to contribute to the improvement of human health – the overarching goal embedded in KI:s current vision.
I am also looking forward to visit the Uppsala node of SciLifeLab on Wednesday, September 12th.
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