This article was written when Svein Stølen was the chair of the board of UiO:Life Science and Ole Petter Ottersen was rector of UiO. From August 1 2017, Stølen is the rector of UiO.
Life sciences represent the largest priority area of the University of Oslo (UiO). Researchers in life sciences study the composition, structure and function of living organisms. In this way we gain new insight which, for example, provides better methods for diagnosing, preventing and treating diseases. We may also acquire knowledge which can be used for sustainable management of natural resources, for example fish populations.
“Life sciences increase our understanding of the nature of life, and of ageing and disease. This is important in itself, but life sciences have an even greater potential. They represent a platform for new industry in Norway and transition to a greener economy with new jobs, products and services for the benefit of society, particularly in the health sector,” says Ole Petter Ottersen, rector of the University.
“At UiO we are assuming a national responsibility to cultivate a leading international life sciences community in Oslo. We will continue to build on the outstanding research communities we already have and develop new ones,” he underlines.
Interdisciplinarity gives UiO an advantage
Life sciences represent an interdisciplinary science to which researchers from various disciplines contribute with their expertise.
“We develop new knowledge in the life sciences by combining the most cutting-edge areas of research in academic disciplines such as medicine and biology with new, advanced methods of analysis from disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, pharmacology, physics and computer science. We also use social science and humanities disciplines to understand life sciences from an overall societal perspective,” says Professor Svein Stølen, who was appointed in the spring as chair of the board for life sciences as a priority area for UiO.
“By working across disciplines we can obtain new, groundbreaking answers to questions for which a single approach and one subject discipline alone brings us no closer to solutions.”
UiO will conduct research, education and innovation that have global visibility and relevance, and establish the Oslo region as a Nordic powerhouse for life sciences. Stølen believes that the interdisciplinarity at UiO will be a key enabler for UiO and the Oslo region to become a world leader in life sciences.
Contributing to value creation
The increased knowledge resulting from the investment in life sciences will contribute to value creation, in order to provide us as a nation with strengths other than the oil and gas industry.
“Bioeconomics is a concept that describes this new form of value creation. In this field, areas of knowledge cutting across disciplines and across the four industry sectors of agriculture, the marine industry, health and green industry will mutually reinforce each other. For example, we will make use of medical research on humans to improve fish health, and knowledge from biological systems to boost medical research,” explains Stølen.
He is of the opinion that Oslo, in addition to academic competence, has the population and national industry base that are required to succeed in this. UiO cooperates widely, with Oslo University Hospital HF (OUS), the municipality of Oslo and the business sector among others, both in terms of research work and the application of new knowledge. Approximately 70 per cent of the patents that are taken out through our innovation company Inven2 come from academic environments in the field of medicine.
The Algeta company which has developed a new drug for the treatment of prostate cancer has its origin in many years of research collaboration between chemists and cancer researchers at UiO and OUS. The company was sold to the German company Bayer for NOK 17.6 billion in 2014 and has created jobs in Norway and abroad. It has now recently become known that after two decades of work, researchers at UiO and OUS have discovered the cause of the autoimmune disorder coeliac disease. This scientific breakthrough will presumably be of great importance for the treatment of this illness. Through its investment in life sciences, UiO will make a concentrated effort to ensure that in the future there will be many such success stories for the benefit of patients as well as society.
A new building and new thinking on research, innovation and education
To make provision for a greater degree of innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching, UiO will erect a life sciences building in Gaustadbekkdalen, Oslo. Statsbygg is the building contractor commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Research, and completion of the building is projected for around 2022.
The life sciences building will be designed so that UiO’s researchers can increase their work across established academic disciplines and collaborate more closely with industry, health enterprises and the municipality. UiO’s researchers and students will thus further enhance their ability to tap into competence across disciplines and to see opportunities for innovation and value creation.
A new building alone will not transform UiO into a Nordic powerhouse in life sciences. Stølen points out that it is crucial for UiO to develop a complete ecosystem for research, education and innovation. This includes interacting with other players such as the public sector, industry and investors when these have relevant competence.
“It is a major task to prepare the nation for a future global, knowledge-based economy that is largely based on biology. It requires that we invest in competence. Education and growth of talent are therefore absolutely key to the priority area of life sciences.”
“UiO shall be a gathering place for creative researchers who are capable of linking academic disciplines in new ways to generate new knowledge and apply this for innovation and value creation. Today’s students are those who will revolutionize tomorrow’s society, create new, sustainable products, services and jobs, and contribute to value creation.”
New board and new director
A newly appointed board with representatives from UiO, South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority and industry has begun this important work which will increase the competitiveness of the Oslo region and Norway in the years to come. The board has initiated planning for a kick-off conference for the life sciences venture to take place in February 2016, at which we hope to welcome researchers, students, politicians and industry representatives. The new director Finn-Eirik Johansen started on February 15, 2016.
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Here you can find a small fraction of the research questions that the 1 000 life science researchers at UiO are working on:
- How are living organisms such as plants and animals affected by environmental changes, and how do they adapt to these changes?
- How are nerve impulses transmitted from nerve cells to the rest of the body?
- How does the use of pharmaceutical drugs by pregnant women affect the child’s nervous system?
- What causes some people to develop hallucinations, delusions, severe depression or excitable, manic phases?
- How do early factors affect our brains throughout life? And how can we optimize brain function?
- How can we use imaging technology to understand molecular mechanisms behind disease and in this way acquire better and more individually tailored drugs?
- Why does the immune system attack the body’s own cells and tissue and cause autoimmune diseases?
- Why does our immune defence system overreact to non-hazardous materials in the environment, such as pollen and food, and cause allergic illness?
- How can we manipulate the immune system to destroy cancer cells as effectively as it destroys virus-infected cells?
- How can we build a bridge between basic research on stem cells and the application of that research?
- Can neuroscience contribute to understanding the development and treatment of mental illnesses such as depression?
- How does the brain process information so that it is able to learn new things and store old memories?
- How can we identify disease earlier and discover when we should withdraw damaging treatment?
The bulk of the research in the priority area of life sciences is conducted at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, but others too, such as researchers in the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, work on life sciences. The researchers at UiO work with many more research questions than are listed above, for example with mechanisms of ageing, global health and public health. We also have several award-winning Norwegian Centres of Excellence which you can find out more about by subscribing to our newsletter.
The life sciences building
- will comprise 66 700 m2 and will be Norway’s largest free-standing university building
- will be a place of work for around 1 000 employees and 1 600 students
- will contain space for research and teaching in life sciences, chemistry and pharmacology
- will have flexible solutions so that it can be adapted to developments in research, innovation and education
- is designed by Ratio Arkitekter AS who won the planning and design competition for the building in 2014 with their project VEV ; the preliminary design project was completed in June 2015 and the detailed design project starts in September 2015
- is planned for completion in approximately 2022
What are life sciences?
Life sciences provide new and advanced answers to the old question of what life is. Our new understanding of life’s basic processes is significant for a number of areas of society, for example ageing processes such as dementia, dealing with antibiotic resistance, and prevention and treatment of disease, such as various forms of cancer. It is also significant for marine industries, food security, agriculture and green industry.
Professor Odd Stokke Gabrielsen who headed the work on
UiO’s strategy for life sciences that was completed in 2014 (in Norwegian).