NLS Opinion and Debate

What if health data was stored in the exact same format, using the exact same coding and conventions at each university hospital in the Nordics? Then a researcher could write one analysis script and run it everywhere. Results can be compared or combined instantly, without moving sensitive data. Studies that once were impossible or took months to complete could be done in weeks, all while preserving privacy.

Why the supply of skills and competence matters for Nordic global competitiveness.

In December last year, Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency concluded that the country’s pharmaceutical stockpiles are insufficient to cope with a crisis or war. That is a serious conclusion. Their report outlines 130 measures to address this, 40 of which are considered to be high priority. But the key question is: how will the stockpiling work in practice? 

The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics reflect the revolutionary impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on life sciences. These awards, celebrating advancements in protein design and neural networks, demonstrate how AI is transforming how we approach drug discovery, personalized medicine, and healthcare management.

Challenges and Funding Dilemmas from an International and Nordic Perspective. It is no secret that obesity is one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century and is one of the leading causes of preventable death globally. It’s estimated that 18% of the global population is obese, with the prevalence of obesity in […]

Pharmaceutical ingredients have been detected in the environment – on every continent. The same properties that make pharmaceuticals effective increase the risk of undesired effects in the environment. Pharmaceutical residues in the environment are a growing concern. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are a wide and diverse group of compounds. They are designed to cure, treat, […]

What if we could silence certain genes to treat a wide range of medical conditions, from genetic conditions to infectious diseases, and even cancer? It may sound like science fiction, but for some rare diseases it’s already a reality through the use of oligonucleotide therapeutics, sometimes referred to as the medicines of the future.

Staffan Svärd, Professor, Scientific Lead for SciLifeLab’s Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness Capability, writes about how lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can increase our pandemic preparedness. Early in the pandemic, SciLifeLab, together with Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, launched a major national COVID-19 research program. Today SciLifeLab has a government mandate to coordinate and expand the […]

There is a massive need for medicines and medical care in war-torn Ukraine, but getting aid supplies through is virtually impossible. At the same time, the Swedish healthcare service faces medical challenges as Ukrainian refugee patients arrive in Sweden. Bengt Mattson, special adviser at the trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden (Lif), […]

I began to be interested in the problem of antibiotic resistance almost 30 years ago. A couple of colleagues and I were evaluating some patent applications describing the possibilities of replacing antibiotics in animal feed with lactobacillus. At that time, similarly to today, antibiotics were routinely used to stimulate the growth of animals raised for […]