“Good research is collaborative”
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh is clearly not a “lone wolf” researcher. Of course, she has always liked to sit and ponder problems – but her truly major research efforts have been done in collaboration with others.
At Broad Institute in Boston, which is one of her workplaces, she directs major genetic research projects. Recently the genomes of 30 mammals were mapped – from hedgehogs and armadillos to apes – which she hopes also enhance our knowledge of human genes. Some 300 people did the practical work with data collection. No fewer than 80 scientists were listed as co-authors of the article.
To direct such gigantic projects requires a knack for collaboration, but also a creative setting. Such a setting is now being built in Uppsala and Stockholm under the name of SciLifeLab (Science for Life Laboratory). Gathered here are, among others, clinical researchers and researchers in comparative genomics, which compares the genes of humans and animals. They have access to the latest technology and experts on informatics, who know how to merge huge masses of information.
– We want to build a new “hub” – a forum similar to the dynamics found at the Broad Institute, with people talking to others that they normally don’t work with, says Kerstin Lindblad-Toh.
They have already come a long way. There’s more and more interest in the Uppsala–Stockholm region and all over Sweden. There are 800 people on the mailing list, 300 of whom turned up at the latest get-together at SciLifeLab.
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh is the director at Uppsala, but she still has her post at Broad Institute in Boston. Together with her husband and 11-year-old son, she spends half of the year in Boston and half in Uppsala. Two different research environments that both have advantages.
– In Sweden we’re really good at hypothesis-driven research. We ask interesting questions, and we have good patient materials and smart scientists. At Broad we also have smart scientists, but are eager to tackle the biggest, quickest and newest thing.
The mapping of 30 mammals is a typical example. Another is mapping the genes of 10 000 schizophrenia patients. SciLifeLab makes it possible to work on a large scale in Sweden as well.
– We want to exploit this large-scale technology to address our really smart questions. That’s when you get the best research, not by being the biggest, but by using the technology on the right questions.
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh is one of the leading researchers in her field of comparative genomics and has published prolifically in recent years in journals like Nature and Science. Her research career took off when she arrived at MIT in Boston in 1998, having just completed her PhD. Two years later she had a chance to lead a major mapping of the genes of mice, and since then she has been involved in large projects, as of 2004 at the Broad Institute.
Her years as a post-doc in Boston made all the difference for her.
– There’s always an element of chance. You have to be in the right place at the right time to get a chance. But it’s also a matter of daring to seize the opportunity, even if it’s something you hadn’t originally planned.
She had previously visited the genetic research section in Boston and knew that she would like the place – but she had no idea it would be so much fun.
– I got involved in lots of fun things and it grew very fast. I hadn’t planned on staying there, but it was so much fun, so I did.
It was important that she wound up in Boston, but not merely because it fuelled her research dreams. She also discovered a mode of working that suited her – and that she wants to import to SciLifeLab.
– It’s been crucial that I’m the sort of person that likes to see the whole picture and put together many pieces of the puzzle. From that point of view I wound up in just the right place, where I could do what I enjoy doing most. It’s this collaborative setting that I love. I like it when people get creative together.
Among all the mammals there’s one that Kerstin Lindblad-Toh has studied thoroughly: the dog. For one thing, she has studied an inflammatory disease in dogs and the cell mechanisms behind it.
– Now we’re going to do this follow up in human patients and see if the same pathogenic genes are important there too. This is what we want to do in many of our dog studies, although it takes time. First you have to find samples, then you have to look for genes, then you have to find the mutations, and then follow up in humans to see whether they have the same pathological mechanisms.
Other diseases being researched are skeletal cancer, lymphoma and breast cancer, periodic fever and other autoimmune inflammatory diseases. This requires lots of collaboration, for instance with veterinarians at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences or with cancer physicians at the University Hospital. This kind of collaboration is facilitated at SciLifeLab.
– Here we have platforms and competence in so many different areas that you can take a research question, maybe starting where you yourself are the expert, then find another expert for the next step, and yet another expert for the next step, she says, and continues:
– I know a lot about dogs and genetics, but I’m certainly not an expert on breast cancer, so I need someone who can tell me if this makes sense, does it look good? Is this what it looks like in humans – when do we have to think differently, when can we think along the same lines?
It´s a matter of daring to be open, of sharing with others. Here Kerstin Lindblad- Toh wants to praise the open culture at Broad, where big lab meetings take place with some fifty professors from various institutions around Boston.
– The discussions and arguments can be lively, but nobody’s there to filch from someone else. We’re there to move research forward and contribute whatever we can. People are generous and share their ideas. If you feel someone has something to add and wants to help, that’s great.
This summer the ground will be broken for a new building in a courtyard at the Biomedical Centre. The large round building will be a focal point for SciLifeLab. Gathered here will be genetics, comparative genetics, system biology, bioinformatics, and perhaps clinical genetics.
The floor plan will be open, with many conference rooms and common coffee rooms. Guest rooms can be booked for a day, a week, or a month. And some of the walls will be painted white so people can write on them, just like at Broad Institute.
– You need to be able to stand there together and solve problems on the walls – not everywhere but in certain places. Our workrooms also have glass walls. If you have guests, you need to see whether they’re there, walk by and grab a cup of coffee together, says Kerstin Lindblad-Toh.
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SciLifeLab – Science for Life Laboratory
In 2009 a large group of researchers at Uppsala University joined together to apply for funding for a major centre for life sciences. With strategic research allocations from the government, their dream could be realized, with one node in Stockholm and one in Uppsala.
In 2010, 292 research projects were underway at SciLifeLab. In 2011 there were 529 – an increase of 50 per cent on the year. The projects were an average of six times larger than the first year. More than 30 per cent were led by researchers from other universities in Sweden.
In the network surrounding SciLifeLab there are now 800 people.
Nine platforms. Including:
• Genomics (DNA sequencing)
• Proteomics (research on protein functions)
• Comparative genetics (comparisons between genes in different animals)
Two research programmes:
• Biology (evolutionary genomics, evolutionary biology and system biology)
• Medicine (cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases and infections)
Annica Hulth