He arrived in Lund in the very snowy winter of 1980, but immediately felt right at home.
– After eight delightful years I had learned a lot and had had much fun. I did research in parallel with medical studies so there were many long days and busy weekends.
Since leaving Lund after earning his MD and PhD degrees in the late 80s, Claes Wahlestedt always kept close links with friends and colleagues at Lund University, his alma mater.
Now, coming back to Lund as a Guest Professor at the Department of Experimental Medical Science at the Medical Faculty he hopes he´ll be able to intensify certain research collaborations with Lund from his current base at the University of Miami, USA.
– I will try to coordinate some efforts with Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer´s Head of Research, who was my class mate and best friend in medical school in Lund and who was also recently appointed Guest Professor at the Department of Experimental Medical Science in Lund.
A main task at his new job will be to help highlight the important field of Pharmacology and related disciplines in Lund.
– Historically this was a highly successful field of study in Lund, associated with several Nobel Prizes, and there are of course still many world class activities at Lund University as well as in surrounding biotech. Furthermore, speaking as an educator, it is imperative that Pharmacology is taught properly to medical and other students as it is a cornerstone of almost all forms of medicine.
And in which way does he think he can contribute in Lund, i.e., how will Lund benefit from his experience?
– I have a very broad background in biomedicine and can discuss issues ranging from basic science to applied science, such as clinical trials etc. Quite often I connect people with each other and I think that team science is often the way to go. I hope to achieve that by being proactive and inquisitive.
In connection to his new position Claes Wahlestedt has also begun to work with friend and colleague Lars Grundemar, among others, on arranging a 2023 Conference in Lund serving to highlight some of the above-mentioned history of Lund-related achievements while also covering entirely novel and innovative approaches to discovering therapeutics.
– With Covid-19 restrictions just now lifting I hope to visit Lund a few times a year. I also encourage colleagues in Lund to come visit us in Miami if they get an opportunity, says the Professor whose curiosity led him to become a researcher.
– I always loved science. To this day, it never gets boring!
He and his team have always conducted research work that spans from basic to applied science.
– We do both genome and drug related research. For example, we continue decades-long efforts in mapping the human genome in detail, in particular trying to understand which previously ignored genes are actually used in the living human for various functions, not least in the brain. This type of work, although highly basic, has resulted in the discovery of drug targets for entirely novel therapeutics for some rare genetic diseases. An area of study in our lab is called epigenetics and often connects many of the dots. We are also, with various collaborators, pursuing more classic (“pharmaceutical company-like”) research to discover new medicines, for example in the field of cancer. It is very gratifying to know that one’s research could actually help real patients with serious diseases.
So, which scientific discovery of his does he rate as the most important one, and why?
– The human genome was first sequenced some twenty years ago – obviously a uniquely important event in science. I was privileged to have access to both public and private genome databases. At the time (around 1998-2000), we were also heavily involved in international transcriptomics (RNA expression) efforts, and it became clear to me that the majority of the human genome must be expressed as non-coding RNA (not coding for proteins). Back then, many other researchers dismissed this so-called “dark matter” of the genome but with time such critique has vanished as many non-coding RNAs have been found to be functional.
– Another unexpected finding that comes to mind is when another friend from Lund, Markus Heilig, and I first injected so-called antisense oligonucleotides into the living rat brain. This was not supposed to work but we observed strong effects on gene expression. It then took a number of years before others really took notice but today the same approach is taken in human patients.