Erik Bivehed wins the SFT award for Best Thesis 2023

The Swedish Society of Toxicology has announced that the award for Best Thesis in Toxicology 2023 is awarded to Erik Bivehed, currently a postdoc at Uppsala University’s research group Drug Safety and Toxicology, for his thesis Evolving the Methodology for Detection of Primary DNA Damage: Development, adaptation and assessment of the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) analysis.

“It is an excellent thesis that has advanced existing methods for assessing DNA damage by introducing a novel statistical approach, refining electrophoresis mediums, and introducing a novel technique, the Polymerase Assisted DNA Damage Assay (PADDA), which selectively measures single- and double-strand DNA breaks, ultimately contributing to a deeper comprehension of the intricacies of DNA damage,” states Oskar Karlsson, chairman of the Swedish Association for Toxicology.

The tools are important additions to the development of potential drugs, as all candidates are subject to numerous different trials before approval, not least with a focus on possible impact on our genetic material. The sooner possible DNA damage is detected, the faster an unfavorable candidate can be dismissed.

“The possibility to distinguish between single-strand and double-strand breaks and also estimate the occurrence of each type is likely to generate new and important information as double-strand breaks on DNA are considerably more serious than single-strand breaks. Receiving the STF award is an inspiring honor, not least as I work with a field of toxicology that is not always in the limelight. This shows that every little bit of research counts, and that even small, niche studies can make an impact. Now I look forward to continue to building on what we have started and hope to soon start a project aiming to increase our understanding of how DNA damage affects and can contribute to predict the outcome of various drug treatments,” says Erik Bivehed.

Erik Bivehed will accept the award at the Swedish Society of Toxicology's annual meeting in autumn 2024.

LEARN MORE

• Evolving the Methodology for Detection of Primary DNA Damage: Development, adaptation and assessment of the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay. (Erik Bivehed, Supervisor: Björn Hellman, 2023)
• Visualizing DNA single- and double-strand breaks in the Flash comet assay by DNA polymerase-assisted end-labelling (Bivehed E, Hellman B, Wenson L, Stenerlöw B, Söderberg O, Heldin J., Nucleic Acids Res. 2024)

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Text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt