Uppsala University launches Sweden’s first Clinical Academic Groups

The term Clinical Academic Groups, or CAG, may still be unfamiliar to many. However, it will now become a more frequently used concept at the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy at Uppsala University.

“CAGs are a concept already established in several countries in Europe, but Uppsala University, together with Uppsala University Hospital, is now taking this initiative as the first higher education institution in Sweden,” says Eva Tiensuu Janson, Deputy Vice-Rector of the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy.

The idea behind a CAG is to foster collaboration between clinical and basic science researchers working in the same field.

“It is part of our effort to increase and strengthen translational research in Uppsala. The aim is to develop new constellations where researchers with different areas of expertise join forces to solve a patient-centred health or medical problem – something that can genuinely and concretely benefit patients and be implemented in healthcare. The intention is for this to happen relatively quickly, with projects resulting in patient benefits within five to six years,” explains Eva Tiensuu Janson.

What is the strength of this concept?

“The strength lies in bringing together individuals who may be researching the same disease but have never worked together. By facilitating collaboration across departmental and faculty boundaries to solve specific healthcare challenges, we achieve real gains in clinical care. These projects are not only about research; the selected CAGs are also tasked with training staff and supporting the changes needed to integrate research findings into routine care.”

International panel made the selection

The call for proposals to establish a CAG was announced last autumn and received 34 applications. Of these, six were invited to interviews, and an external international panel ultimately recommended two of the proposals.

One of the groups are led by Åsa Johansson, Professor at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, together with Niklas Dahl, Professor and Senior Physician in clinical genetics at the same department and Uppsala University Hospital. The other by Anna Rostedt Punga, Professor and Senior Physician at the Department of Medical Sciences and Uppsala University Hospital, and Stefan Schwartz, Professor at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology.

“Uppsala University conducts cutting-edge research on the human genome,” says Åsa Johansson. “At the same time, Uppsala University Hospital has developed extensive expertise and infrastructure for clinical genetic diagnostics. Both units are internationally competitive and complement each other well. We applied to form a CAG to enable the implementation of genetic diagnostics for complex diseases in clinical practice and to develop individualised medical assessments.”

The aim of Åsa Johansson and Niklas Dahl’s CAG is to develop and validate methods that, based on a person’s combination of hereditary gene variants, can predict the risk of common diseases. In this way, they hope to contribute to personalised medical assessment, follow-up and possible preventive measures for a broader group of patients.

“Our goal is to enable large-scale clinical use of genetic diagnostics for complex diseases, with a particular focus on polygenic risk scores (PRS). We will develop disease-specific PRS, validate them in the Swedish population, and introduce them into clinical diagnostics. At present, diagnostics mainly focus on rare, high-impact mutations, such as BRCA mutations,” says Åsa Johansson.

Addressing facial paralysis

Anna Rostedt Punga and Stefan Schwartz will focus their CAG on facial palsy – a sudden one-sided facial paralysis. A diagnosis on which Uppsala University Hospital will conduct national highly specialised care from 1 September.

“There is a major clinical and research need to improve the understanding of facial palsy, where the cause is often unknown and no curative treatment is currently available,” says Anna Rostedt Punga. “Through our CAG, which we have named ‘FACE’, we aim to create a platform for improved diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation by bringing together expertise from Uppsala University, Uppsala University Hospital, regional hospitals, and patient representatives from Sweden and the United Kingdom.”

Facial palsy can have a wide-ranging impact on patients, affecting appearance, emotional expression, and psychological well-being.

“We want to understand why some individuals are affected, why some do not recover fully, and how we can identify early on those at risk of long-term complications. In particular, we plan to investigate whether herpes viruses contribute to the disease, by analysing viral genes and small RNA molecules in blood and nerve tissue from affected patients.”

Patient benefit in focus

These two new projects mark the launch of the first round of CAGs in Uppsala. What unites them is their focus on making a real difference for patients.

“Overall, we look forward to interdisciplinary collaboration within our CAG, where we can translate research findings into practical healthcare benefits,” says Åsa Johansson. “We are also interested in evaluating the health economic effects of implementing PRS across different disease groups. We believe that awareness of genetic risk factors for various diseases will increase among both healthcare providers and patients.”

Anna Rostedt Punga echoes this sentiment.

“There are so many unanswered questions in the field of facial palsy, and this CAG gives us a unique opportunity to bring together our various competencies and perspectives. Creating something meaningful together that can truly make a difference for patients is what we most look forward to. We share a clear common goal – whether we are researchers, clinicians or patients – to understand why people are affected by facial paralysis and how we can better help them.”

Only the beginning

These two initial projects will run for four years starting mid-2025 and will be funded with SEK 2 million per year – one million from ALF funding and one million from the faculty.

“It is both exciting and rewarding that we are now officially launching the CAG initiative after a long process. The two selected projects were the most well-developed in terms of their overall concept, including aspects beyond the research itself. They represent the beginning of a long-term effort, with plans for a new CAG call for two additional projects already this autumn,” concludes Eva Tiensuu Janson.

Robin Widing