Annika Karlsson

Annika Karlsson

Senior Lecturer | Docent
Telephone: +46852483582
Mobile phone: +46704670130
Visiting address: Nobels väg 7, 17165 Solna
Postal address: H5 Laboratoriemedicin, H5 Klin Mikrobiologi Annika Karlsson, 141 52 Huddinge
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About me

  • PhD, Associate Professor, Group leader. I obtained an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Laboratory Science, specializing within the field of clinical microbiology and immunology. Subsequently, I earned an PhD-degree in clinical virology from KI in 2000, followed by 4, 5 years as a postdoctoral fellow at Gladstone Institutes of Virology and Immunology, UCSF, San Francisco, broadening my research expertise in clinical immunology, virus-host interactions, especially virus-specific T cell responses and how genetic variability and activity of the virus and host shapes the responding T cell population. I returned to Sweden in 2005 and was appointed Associate Professor in clinical virology at Karolinska Institutet in 2009. The research conducted in the group is currently funded by several national grants received from the Swedish Research Council, Centrum for Innovative Medicine, KI Research Foundation Grants, KI Partial funding of new postgraduate student, ALF Med, and The Swedish Physicians Against AIDS Research Foundation.

    Education
    Degrees
    1998 Licentiate in Clinical Virology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    1996 Bachelor in Biomedical Science (i.e. biomedical laboratory science - BMA) University of Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

    1990 University Certificate in Medical Laboratory Technology (i.e. biomedical laboratory science - BMA), University of Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

    Doctoral degree
    2000-12-15 PhD in Virology at the Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden. Title: Viral dynamics and evolution following primary HIV-1 infection. Main supervisor: Professor Anders Sönnerborg, MD, PhD.

    Postdoc appointments
    2007 – 2009 Assistant Professor, Postdoctoral research fellow, KI, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Solna, Sweden

    2005 – 2007 Assistant Professor, Postdoctoral research fellow, The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Solna, Sweden

    2004 – 2005 Research Scientist. Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    2001 – 2004 Postdoctoral Fellow. Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Docent - level competence

    2009-09-23 Associate Professor of Virology at the Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.

    Academic honours, awards and prizes
    2003 University of California San Francisco, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, Center for AIDS Research Mentored Scientist Development Award

    2001 Sven Gard Stipend for Best Thesis in Virology at KI

    1999 Swedish Physician Against AIDS Research Fund “Best Young Swedish Scientist in the field of HIV/AIDS”

Research

  • I have extensive experience managing multiple research projects in the following areas: clinical virology and immunology, virus- and cancer-specific T cell responses, MHC-peptide-TCR interactions, antigen-specific T cell function and exhaustion in blood and tissue, transcriptional activation and regulation of T cell responses, bioinformatics, HIV pathogenesis, molecular biology, viral evolution, antiretroviral therapy, antiretroviral (drug) resistance. Using this knowledge, I have established an advanced system to conduct detailed studies of T cell pathology during acute and chronic viral infections and cancer. Internationally, I have developed a reputation in the fields of T cell induced escape and selective pressures, HIV pathogenesis, cross reactive T cells, molecular mechanisms influencing T cell function as well as in T cell immunology assays.

Teaching

  • At KI, I have been actively involved in the training and teaching of biomedical scientists, physicians, biomedical students, optics, and doctoral students during seminars, lectures, and courses since 2005. I am the course organizer for Project work 15hp in Biomedical Laboratory Science (Level-C, se
  • kandidat) arranged at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Laboratory Medicine.

    I served as the educational board member for the division of clinical microbiology at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, KI, 2016 – 2022 and IPL day facilitor at KI 2020 - 2022.

    Currently, I am heavily involved in the working groups for the new master program in Biomedical Laboratory Science and new undergraduate programme in Biomedical Laboratory Science (se
  • biomedicinsk analytiker, BMA).

Articles

All other publications

Employments

  • Senior Lecturer, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2009
  • Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2000
  • Licentiate Degree, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 1998

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