Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Toxicology, Stockholm University

Postal address: Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Toxicology, Stockholms Universitet, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Visiting address: Svante Arrhenius väg 20 C, floor 5
Web page: http://www.gmt.su.se/english/

Contact person: Professor Dag Jenssen, Head of Department, phone: +46 (0)8 16 3108

Research connected to South Asia:

Professor Dag Jenssen is leading a research team that works in the area of cancer studies. One of his major current projects is entitled ”Impact of agents with potential use in functional foods on biomarkers for age related diseases” with the acronym (FUNCFOOD). It has been  funded primarily by the 7th European Union Research Framework (FP7) and is for a period of four years, from February 2010 till January 2014. The funding granted by the EU amounts to EUR 1,49 m (about SEK 13 m), and the project is carried out in collaboration with a number of leading institutions in India, as well as several other European partners.
The coordinator from India is Professor Siddavaram Nagini from the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu. Other Indian collaboration partners are Dr. G. Bhanuprakash Reddy and Dr. G. N. V. Brahmam from the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, and Dr. Madhulika Dixit together with Dr. V. Balaji, Apollo Hospitals subcontracted by the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Chennai.
Besides that, the Swedish Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm is also involved through the Rolf Luft Center for Research in Diabetes and Endocrinology where the researchers Prof. Kerstin Brismar and Prof. G. Dallner work, both of them based at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery.
See a short presentation of the project (as pdf-file). 
Read more at the project's official website.

Read more about Professor Jenssen's research projects on his personal page. His publications can be found here.

Project abstract: Cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the general population. Even a modest decrease in the prevalence of these afflictions translates into millions of lives saved. The aim of this project is to investigate agents with potential use as “functional food” constituents with respect to protection against these common afflictions.
The age related diseases mentioned above take decades to develop, and within this project the potentially positive impact of putative protective agents will, therefore, be monitored by means of predictive molecular and cytogenetic “biomarkers”. Initially, studies are conducted in cultured cells as well as in rodent models with respect to induction of DNA lesions, tumours as well as biomarkers for the development of diabetes, diabetic retinopathy and atherosclerosis. Finally, testing of the protective efficacy of agents selected on basis of the experimental systems will be carried out in intervention cross-over studies in humans exposed to grilled foods, tobacco or cooking fumes that normally contain carcinogens in significant levels.
Except for chlorophyllin, a commonly used food supplement and coloring substance, all agents to be tested are of plant origin, and many have been used in traditional herbal medicines for centuries.