TREC affiliated MD students have graduated from the Research program in medicine

The Research Program in Medicine (Forskerlinjen) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway is a 120 ECTS credit program, of which 30 credits are for PhD courses and 90 credits are for a research project. The program is anually offered to 10 MD students who wish to pursue a research career. The program provides students with practical research experience, training in research methods and critical thinking, along with a solid foundation for further PhD studies. The Research Program in Medicine ends with oral examination consisting of 20 minutes presentation of the student’s research project by the students followed by 40 minutes defense with one external and one internal examinator during the sixth year at medical school.

During the last 15 years, the Thrombosis Research Group (TREC) has recruited 1-2 of the students elected for the research program annually for thrombosis-related projects. This year, however, we had for the first time 3 MD/PhD students (Camilla Langholm, Nikolai Hagensen Eide, and Asbjørn Lund Onsaker) that graduated from the program on Friday November 28. They all presented papers published in high-ranked medical journals and defended their projects exceptionally well during the scientific discussions. The external evaluator for all three graduations was professor Pål Andre Holme from the University of Oslo.

The achievements were traditionally celebrated with coffee and cake immediately after graduation with colleagues, family and friends in TREC premises at UiT.

 The following papers were discussed during the exams:

Onsaker et al. Histo-blood group ABO system transferase plasma levels and risk of future venous thromboembolism: the HUNT study. Blood. 2025;145(22):2656-65.

Eide et al. Mortality risk after cancer-related venous thromboembolism has decreased over the last three decades: the HUNT and Tromso studies. Haematologica. 2025;110(6):1328-38.

Langholm et al. Risk of Cancer in the Short and Long Term after Incident Venous Thromboembolism: The HUNT and Tromso Studies. Thromb Haemost. 2025.

Is mannose binding lectin of the lectin complement pathway associated with risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE)?

The complement system, a fundamental part of humoral and innate immunity, has gained considerable attention for its interplay with coagulation and potential role in the pathogenesis of VTE. Mannose-binding lectin (MBL), a pattern recognition molecule circulates in complexes with MBL-associated serine proteases (MASPs) in blood. The MASPs are activated when MBL bind to specific carbohydrate patterns on pathogens or altered host cells and lead to downstream complement activation. In the present population-based study, we found that individuals with high plasma MBL levels had 79% higher VTE risk than those with low MBL levels, and that activated MBL-MASP complexes facilitated thrombin generation independent of downstream complement activation.  The results suggest that high MBL levels are a risk factor for VTE partly mediated by direct thrombin generation at the site of venous thrombosis formation. Our findings were recently published and highlighted as a featured paper in Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

The first author of this study, Christabel Esi Damoah, is a PhD-student at TREC and the study included collaborators from Norway, Denmark, Hungary and USA.

Reference:

Damoah CE, Valderhaug SM, Snir O, Hindberg KD, Braekkan SK, Grover SP, Nost TH, Gal P, Pal G, Jonasson C, et al. Elevated Plasma MBL Levels Are Associated With Risk of Future Venous Thromboembolism: HUNT. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.322052

Prizes to TREC at ECTH2025

TREC submitted 15 abstracts to the conference (total number of abstracts were >300), and of these, 12 were elected for oral presentations, one for “Science fast and furious”, and the remaining two were presented as posters. The “Science fast and furious” is a scientific presentation in a TED-talk format, and the eight highest ranked abstracts are elected for this session. Mathias Haugmo Storvand did a great job on the fast and furious stage, presenting results on a newly discovered protein which is linked to obesity-related VTE. Together with Solveig Marie Valderhaug he received a young investigator award, while Maryam Hosseini won the prize for best poster presentation!

The TREC members held presentations within the sessions on venous thromboembolism (VTE), recurrent thrombosis, platelets, cancer-related VTE and obesity-related VTE. Anna Arntzen, Camilla Langholm, Celina Cathro, Christopher Antoun, Eduarda Guerreiro, John-Bjarne Hansen, Nikolai Eide, Magdalena Johansson, Maryam Hosseini, Melliane Olsen, Lukas Konecny and Solveig Valderhaug all did an excellent job presenting their work!

The scientific program of the conference was truly inspiring, and it was nice to meet colleagues and researchers in the field of thrombosis and hemostasis from all over Europe.

We had a great time in Prague!

John Bjarne Hansen  –  Professor

Sigrid Kufaas Brækkan  –  Professor

Omri Snir  –  Associate Professor

Thor Ueland  –  Professor II

Kristian Dalsbø Hindberg  –  Researcher

Vania Maris Morelli  –  Researcher

Nadezhda Latysheva  –  Research technician

Samantha Xavier  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Christabel Esi Damoah  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Eduarda Mazagao Guerreiro  –  Researcher

Maryam Hosseini  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Christopher Antoun  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Lisa Jakobsen  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Celina Janene Cathro  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Ellen-Sofie Wulff Eilertsen  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Birgitte Gladsø Tøndel

Oda Gabrielle R. Leknessund  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Vårin Eiriksdatter Wikan  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Asbjørn Lund Onsaker  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Nikolai Hagensen Eide  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Camilla Langholm  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Anna Yang Arntzen  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Mathias Haugmo Storvand  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Solveig Marie Valderhaug  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Inga Røstvold  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)