The University of Oslo is closed. The PhD defence and trial lecture will therefore be fully digital and streamed directly using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the disputation.
Ex auditorio questions: the chair of the defence will invite the audience to ask ex auditorio questions either written or oral. This can be requested by clicking 'Participants -> Raise hand'.
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Join the disputation (open from 12:00 on the day)
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Trial lecture
TDM of biologicals: rationale, clinical impact and methodological considerations.
Main research findings
New concepts for personalized immunosuppression in the transplanted patient.
After transplantation patients receive individualized immunosuppressive treatment based on drug concentrations to hinder rejection of the transplant. This thesis aimed to develop and apply alternative methods of measuring the immunosuppressants tacrolimus, belatacept and mycophenolic acid.
Tacrolimus exerts its effect inside lymphocytes but is measured in whole blood. An assay developed in this thesis showed that concentrations inside lymphocytes was only partially related to the whole blood concentration. It was also shown that the amount of tacrolimus that distributes to lymphocytes after dose may decrease during the first year after transplantation.
A belatacept assay was developed and used to show that belatacept has a stable pharmacokinetic profile, but heavier patients may have a higher drug exposure since belatacept dose is adjusted according to body mass.
The pharmacodynamic response of mycophenolic acid was measured in resting and ex vivo stimulated lymphocytes. Mycophenolic acid had a stronger effect on stimulated cells, but in a cohort of transplant patient both resting and stimulated cells appeared to become less sensitive during the first year after transplantation.
For more information: https://www.mn.uio.no/farmasi/english/