2009-05-27
All aspects of Parkinson’s disease: history, causes, diagnosis, treatments, were discussed when Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden visited the University hospital on Wednesday 27th of May to participate in a seminar on World Parkinson’s Day about research on the disease.
The Queen arrived at noon and was greeted by, among others, Susanna Lindvall, chairwoman of the Swedish Parkinson Association research fund, University hospital’s head of research, Karl Obrant, hospital director Bent Christensen, Medical Faculty Dean Bo Ahrén and Professor Patrik Brundin, who together with Susanna Lindvall took the initiative to start the Swedish Parkinson Academy. Eight-year-old Mathilda Eker gave the Queen a bouquet of flowers as she stepped out of the car. A large number of curious people were also present at the hospital entrance to catch a glimpse of the Queen.
Queen Silvia was present as protector of the Parkinson Association research fund. Dressed in a navy blue, long jacket and a cream coloured skirt, she was the introductory speaker of the day.
– It is gratifying that so many new drugs have appeared in the last 25 years. Who knows, perhaps it will be exactly those researchers we support today that will solve the mystery of Parkinson’s disease, said the Queen.
The Swedish Parkinson Academy was the focus of the afternoon’s lectures. The Academy was founded two years ago with the objective of recruiting young, promising researchers to Parkinson research and create contacts between experimental research and the clinic, so that new treatments will be available to the patients more rapidly.
– We want to speed things up, so that the results from the lab also are made available in the clinic. There is a bottleneck between good results from the lab until they are applied on patients, said Susanna Lindvall, who together with Patrik Brundin took the initiative to the Swedish Parkinson Academy.
– And there is also a bottleneck in the other direction, to understand the clinical conditions in the lab, Patrik Brundin added.
Parkinson research in Lund has a long tradition.
– For example, it was in Lund that Arvid Carlsson discovered L-dopa, that eventually rendered him the Nobel prize, and it was here that doctors Olle Lindvall, Patrik Brundin and Håkan Widner, among others, for the first time showed that cells grafted into the brain can relieve the symptoms, said the hospital’s head of research, Karl Obrant.
– It took three years of careful investigations before we chose Lund as the locality for the Parkinson Academy. The best conditions are here, said Susanna Lindvall.
Ronny Olausson, diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2001, was also on the list of speakers.
– One may ask oneself why on earth a patient organization with 8 000 members stakes 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately 1,2 million euros) on something like this? Well, this disease has been known for 200 years and still the riddle remains to be solved. We must try new ways and methods to try and relieve this torment. For us, it is necessary to venture all to facilitate research, care and treatment, said Ronny Olausson, who during his speech established that you would need someone to do research on how researchers do research.
– And we do have that here in Lund, thanks to a grant from the Swedish Research Counsil. Ethnologist Susanne Lundin is a member of our group and investigates how it works, said Patrik Brundin.
The Swedish Parkinson Academy is now two years old – what goals have been achieved so far?
– I feel like things are starting to happen. We are arranging courses and seminars and we apply for funding together, said Patrik Brundin.
The day ended with Uppsala doctor Dag Nyholm (right) receiving the Åke Ljungdahl award of 100 000 Swedish kronor (approximately 10 000 euros), which is awarded for the first time. Martin Lundblad (left) at the Medical faculty in Lund received 225 000 Swedish kronor for his research on L-dopa induced dyskinesia.
World Parkinson’s Day is actually the 11th of April, but because of the participation of the Queen and due to the fact that the date this year coincided with Easter Saturday, it is celebrated locally in Lund on the 27th of May.
Text and photo: Christel Thunell
Page Manager: Christel Thunell
Last modified: 2009-05-28
