Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg

Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg

Professor | Professor, Senior | Docent
Telephone: +46852487735
Visiting address: Solnavägen 9, Biomedicum B5, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C3 Fysiologi och farmakologi, C3 FyFa Farmakogenetik, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • Professor of Molecular Toxicology since 1996 and research group leader in Pharmacogenetics at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology since 2006. Section Head.

    Previous positions at Karolinska Institutet were Research Assistant in Physiological Chemistry 1976-1977

  • Lecturer in Physiological Chemistry 1977-1987 (appointed 1982)
  • and Acting Professor of Physiological Chemistry 1987-1996.

    Currently leader of a research group of about 8 people. The research programme is focused on genetic factors of importance for interindividual differences in drug response and adverse drug reactions and on a novel 3D hepatic in vitro system where liver function, mechanisms of drug mediated enzyme induction and drug hepatotoxicity as well as liver diseases like steatosis, hepatitis and fibrosis is studied. Furthermore we investigate ataxia and depression caused by overexpression of CYP2C19 in fetal mouse/human brain.


    Education
    Civil Engineer, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 1975
    PhD in Physiological Chemistry 1975
    Docent in Physiological Chemistry 1977
    BSc. Med (med kand), Karolinska Institutet 1978.

    Academic honours, awards and prizes
    More than 520 original papers, 31 024 citations (58, 740 in Google Scholar), and an h-factor of 99 (ISI) or 128 (Google Scholar). Member of The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet 2008-2018. Member of Editorial Advisory Boards of e.g. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences (Editorial Board), Pharmacogenetics and Genomics, Pharmacogenomics, Drug Metabolism Reviews, Drug Metabolism and Disposition. 


  • Ranked as tone of the world's most cited authors within the category Pharmacology 2014-2016 (http://isihighlycited.com/). Highly cited researcher Clarivate 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023. ERC Advanced Grant for 2017-2022. ERC PoC grant 2023-2025.

    Main supervisor to a PhD degree for 34 postgraduate students, postdoctoral training for 32 PhDs. The research group ranked as outstanding in Karolinska Institutet's External Research Assessment (ERA) in 2010.

    Awards include The Svedberg Price, The Swedish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1989
  • Honorary member of The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1990
  • The Gerhard B Zbinden Lecture Award, EUROTOX 1996
  • The ISSX European Scientific Achievement Award 2003
  • The Bengt Danielsson Prize, The Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2008
  • The John G Warner Pfizer Lectureship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Michigan, USA 2011, 2018 BCPT Nordic Prize in Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology. The 2022 R.T. Williams Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award. Honorary doctor, Syddansk Universitet. Odense, 2022.

    Commissions of trust
    ~~Programme committee of the MD curriculum: Head of studieplanekommitten 3 years, responsible for the new KI 90 GUL study plan for the MD curriculum. Docenturnämnden 6 years, Chairman of KIRT 6 years, Chairman of the Committee for Elective Periods in the MD curriculum 6 years. Vice Chairman the Recruitment Committee 3 years, Chairman of The Recruitment Committee 6 years (ending March 2014) and pro dean (vice dean) for recruitment 2 years. Chairman of study group, The Swedish Natural Science Research Council 3 years, Member of study groups at The Swedish Natural Science Research Council, The Swedish Medical Research Council, 6 years, The Norwegian Research Council for 6 years. Member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet 2008-2018.

    Teaching awards: Mäster from The Student Union at Karolinska Institutet 1978
  • The Karolinska Institutet Pedagogical Award 2000.

    Current funding as PI

    • Hjärnfonden 2023-2026
    • ERC PoC 2023-2025
    • Vetenskapsrådet 2022-2024
    • Novartis 2024-2026

Research

  • New genetic factors are identified that may pose pharmacogenomic biomarkers for individualization of drug therapy. Currently special emphasis is but on the role of rare alleles and reasons behind the missing heritability. A novel 3D spheroid system for studying liver function for 5 weeks is used to analyse control of hepatic gene expression, mechanisms of drug mediated enzyme induction and hepatotoxicity and for studying liver diseases like steatosis, hepatitis and fibrosis. Special emphasis is put on discovery of novel drug targets for these diseases..

    Major scientific achievements
    1. Discovery of an important role of alcohol-inducible CYP2E1 in the induction of ALD due to the enzyme's ability to produce a large amount of
    reactive oxygen radicals and initiate lipid peroxidation in the liver.
    2. Presented the first example described of duplication and amplification of active genes in the human genome in 1993.
    3. Identification of the phenotype of ultra-rapid drug metabolism and the identification and characterization of all variants of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19
    that cause such a phenotype, as well as the identification of several genetic CYP2D6 alleles causing reduced or abolished enzyme activity. All
    these genetic variants are used as pharmacogenomic drug labels by FDA and EMA.
    4. Cloning of many new human cytochrome P450 genes, including CYP2W1, a tumour- specific enzyme that catalyses the activation of anti-cancer
    drugs.
    5. Discovery that higher CYP2C19 expression in the foetal brain leads to altered brain morphology, anxiety and depression in adulthood.
    6. Description of the role of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 polymorphisms for the optimal use of antipsychotics and antidepressants.
    7. Identification of the significance of rare genetic variants that cause interindividual variations in drug metabolism.
    8. Development of an in vitro spheroid system to study human liver function and predict drug-induced hepatotoxicity.
    9. Development of a novel triple culture in vivo like human spheroid system for studying drug induced stress reactions and dietary induced
    steatosis and NASH and its mechanisms and treatment.

Teaching

  • Been teaching MD students since 1977 in the topics of physiological chemistry, and basic pharmacology.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

Employments

  • Professor, Senior, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-2025
  • Professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, 2020-2024

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 1977

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