Åsa Andersson, PhD, lecturer
Address: Dept. of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Section for Systems Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University, Universitetsparken 2, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
e-mail: aaa(at)farma.ku.dk
phone: +45 35 33 6384
Åsa Andersson has been employed as a lecturer in Microbiology at The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University, since 1st of April, 2005. Before this (1997-2005), she was appointed to different research positions at the Department for Medical Inflammation Research at Lund University, Sweden, where she also got the degree as Associate Professor (docent) in 2003.
She made her PhD at the Dept. for Applied Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Umeå, Sweden, and graduated in 1994 with a thesis entitled "B cell repertoire development in normal physiology and autoimmune disease".
1995-1997 Åsa Andersson performed post-doc studies at the INSERM U429, Hôpital Necker, Paris, France, where the studies was focused on leukocyte development in a mouse model for the immunodeficiency disease, X-linked SCID.
The main interest of the research performed in Åsa Anderssons group is to understand the basis for development of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The studies are done in the experimental models: Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) for MS, and Collagen Induced Arthritis (CIA) for RA.
With a functional genomics strategy a number of quantitative trait loci (QTL) linked to disease development in EAE and CIA have been identified. Subsequently, these loci have been isolated in congenic mouse strains, which have been tested for disease susceptibility and the important genetic regions have been further narrowed down by breeding strategies. Putative candidate genes are investigated for polymorphisms and expression and functional differences between wild-type and congenic mice.
The goal with the studies is to find candidate genes that could serve as putative drug targets in MS and RA.
Recent Publications
Maria Liljander, Åsa Andersson, Rikard Holmdahl, and Ragnar Mattsson. Increased litter size and super-ovulation rate in congenic C57BL mice carrying a polymorphic fragment of NFR/N origin at the Fecq4 locus of chromosome 9. 2009. Genetic Research, 91:259-265.
Therese Lindvall, Jenny Karlsson, Rikard Holmdahl, and Åsa Andersson. Dissection of a locus on mouse chromosome 5 reveals arthritis promoting and inhibitory genes. 2009. Arthritis Research and Therapy, 11:R10.
Åsa Andersson. "Genetic control of disease in an experimental model for Sjögren´s syndrome. 2009. Editorial: Arthritis Research and Therapy, 11:102.
Maria Liljander, Åsa Andersson, Rikard Holmdahl, and Ragnar Mattsson. "Increased susceptibility to collagen-induced arhtritis in female mice carrying congenic Cia40/Pregq2 fragments. 2008. Arthritis Research and Therapy, 10:R88.
Therese Lindvall og Åsa Andersson. "Genetisk jagt på årsagerne til inflammation". 2006. Lægemiddelforskning, 36-37.
Maria Liljander, Mary-Ann Sällström, Sara Andersson, Patrik Wernhoff, Åsa Andersson, Rikard Holmdahl, and Ragnar Mattsson. "Identification of genetic regions of importance for reproductive performance in female mice". 2006. Genetics 173:901-909.
Maria Liljander, Mary-Ann Sällström, Sara Andersson, Åsa Andersson, Rikard Holmdahl and Ragnar Mattsson. "Identification of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) loci in aged multiparous female mice". 2006. Arthritis Research and Therapy. 8:R45.
Åsa Andersson and Rikard Holmdahl. A genetic basis for shared autoimmunity in mouse models. Autoimmunity, 38(3):209-217, 2005.
Martin Stenström, Markus Sköld, Åsa Andersson, and Susanna Cardell. Natural killer (NK) T cell populations in C57BL/6 and NK1.1 congenic BALB.NK mice; a novel thymic subset defined in BALB.NK mice. Immunology, 114:336, 2005
Martina Johannesson, Jenny Karlsson, Patrik Wernhoff, Kutty S. Nandakumar, Anna-Karin Lindqvist, Lina Olsson, Andrew Cook, Åsa Andersson, and Rikard Holmdahl. Identification of epistasis through a partial advanced intercross reveals three arthritis loci within the Cia5 QTL in mice. Genes and Immunity, 6:175-185, 2005.
Jenny Karlsson, Martina Johannesson, Therese Lindvall, Patrik Wernhoff, Rikard Holmdahl, and Åsa Andersson. Genetic interactions in Eae2 control collagen induced arthritis and the CD4+/CD8+ T cell ratio. Journal of Immunology, 174:533, 2005.
