Facts

Contact person:
Magnus Falk
Financer:
  • BioLabX National Graduate Research School
  • Scientists for eXcellence (The Swedish Research Council)
Responsible at MaU:
Magnus Falk
Project members at MaU:
External project members:
  • Shariel Sayardoust - Folktandvården Östergötland / Linköpings universitet
Collaborators :
  • Oonagh Shannon - Odontologiska fakulteten Malmö Universitet
Time frame:
12 June 2026 - 31 December 2030
Faculty/department:
Research environment :
Research subject:

About the project

The project develops and validates standardised methods for the use of oral fluids, primarily saliva, as diagnostic sample materials. The objective is to establish robust workflows for multi-omics analyses, with a particular focus on metabolomics and proteomics, enabling biomarkers in oral fluids to be identified, compared, and validated in a reproducible manner.

The centre for the project is that saliva and other oral fluids represent promising non-invasive sample materials, but the lack of standardised procedures for sample collection, handling, and analysis has so far limited their implementation in clinical laboratory diagnostics.

Four work packages

The doctoral project consists of four interconnected work packages.

  • The first focuses on developing standardised pre-analytical and metabolomics workflows for oral fluids.
  • The second involves the validation of proteomics methods adapted to these complex sample matrices.
  • Subsequently, the established methodologies will be applied to clinical samples, using periodontitis as a model inflammatory disease, with the aim of identifying reproducible molecular signatures.
  • In the final stage of the project, selected biomarkers will be validated using targeted analytical approaches, with particular emphasis on translating the findings into quality-assured laboratory workflows and future clinical diagnostic applications.

The project integrates biomedical laboratory science, clinical diagnostics, analytical chemistry, and data-driven medicine.

Educational dimension

It also has a strong educational dimension, as the doctoral student will contribute to teaching within the Biomedical Laboratory Science Programme, particularly in areas such as non-invasive analysis, bioanalytical methods, clinical chemistry, and research methodology.

The BioLabX National Graduate Research School

This project is part of the national graduate research school BioLabX – Biomedical Laboratory Scientists for eXcellence. BioLabX is a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg, Karolinska Institutet, Linköping University, Malmö University, Umeå University, Uppsala University, and Örebro University. The graduate school is funded by the Swedish Research Council for the period 2026–2031 and aims to strengthen research, pedagogical development, and teaching competence within biomedical laboratory science.

Intending to develop the teachers and researchers of the future

A central objective is to support biomedical laboratory scientists in developing into the next generation of academic educators while promoting closer collaboration between healthcare and academia.