Johan Kolmert

As an assistant professor and senior researcher I study inflammatory signaling processes such as the onset and regulation of the omega-3 and -6 lipid derived mediators such as prostaglandins, leukotrienes and related fatty acid metabolites. Lipid mediators, together with various plasma proteins, constitute an exciting pathobiological component of both homeostasis and chronic and inflammatory states. These lipids also end up in extracellular vesicles, exosomes. The investigative work of being in science motivates me because if I can aid in progressing our understanding of disease mechanisms or the Mode-of-Action of a new drug I will support you.  

I have specific biological experience in polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3/6 PUFAs) metabolism and its role in multiple inflammatory diseases where immune cells are the predominant source for their biosynthesis. My 23-years of background in chromatography and mass spectrometry-based techniques in pharmaceutical industry and academic labs have enable my contribution to multiple clinical trials in understanding the effect of drug administration on endogenous biosynthesis of lipid mediators. It has given me the opportunity to communicate exciting results in international conferences such as ERS, Keystone and ATS, as well as as in smaller local and international networks and consortia.

I currentl study inflammatory processes driven by established lipid mediators, such prostaglandin, leukotriene and thromboxanes. Those are of particular importance in moderate to severe asthma. Central to my findings is the involvement of key effector cells, such as mast cells and eosinophils. After my experience of applying untargeted metabolomics within systems biology at AstraZeneca I have shifted my bioanalytical focus towards targeted LC-MS/MS based absolute quantification.  Currently ongoing efforts are from larger European joint research studies (IMI funded U-BIOPRED Alliance project, RASP U.K, COPSAC, VDAART,   the ABC study at  IMI 3TR consortia as well as the KI study BioCross and or Novartis funded SoMOSA.