The on-going research is a continuation of the work carried out within the frame of the LOCUS for more than 20 years and in collaboration with the LOCUS members at the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care. The research objectives are the establishment and validation of biomarkers related to vitamin status, nutrition and inflammation as risk factors of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.
After reorganization of the Department of Clinical Science, two members of the former LOCUS Homocysteine, professor Ottar Nygård, and professor Per Magne Ueland, affiliated at the Preventive Cardiology Section and the Pharmacology Section, respectively, were assigned the status of research group within the department. The research activity is organized within two units, i.e. the academic unit (Research group) and the analytical unit (BEVITAL).
Advanced equipment:
The analytical unit (Bevital) has modern instrumentation for sample handling and analysis of vitamins and vitamin markers in biological material, including serum, plasma and urine. The BEVITAL laboratory is organized into different analytical platforms (A - H), with personnel and equipment dedicated to specific analytical tasks.
Sample handling is carried out by robotic workstations. The laboratory is equipped with four gas chromatographs coupled with mass spectrometers (GC-MS), five gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometers (GC-MS/MS; Agilent 7010 and Waters Quattro mico GC), five liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometers (LC-MS/MS; API 4000, API 4000 QTRAP and API 5500 QTRAP ) and one MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer (Bruker Ultraflextreme).
You will find more details here.
Collaborators:
We have worldwide collaborators in such countries as Norway, Denmark, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Brazil, Spain, North America, and Australia, etc.
Norway:
University of Bergen, Grethe S. Tell
Sweden:
Karolinska Institutet, Jorge Lira Ruas
UK:
Imperial College London, Paolo Vineis
Netherland:
Maastricht University, Simone (S.J.P.M.) Eussen
Wageningen University & Research Center, Ellen Kampman
Germany:
EMBL Heidelberg, Nina Habermann
France:
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Paul Brennan
Spain:
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Michelle Murphy
North America:
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Cornelia Ulrich
Stanford University Medical Center, Katrin Andreasson
Australia:
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Timothy J. Green