Meet Jan Holgersson, new vice dean for infrastructure and facilities

MANAGEMENT TASKS. Good premises and excellent infrastructure – both are prerequisites for us to remain competitive. The work to meet the conditions and wishes of the business feels satisfying to Jan Holgersson, new to the post as vice dean in these areas.

As a former head of operations at SU, Jan Holgersson has acquired a certain habit of running projects, and he thinks it will now be interesting to work in a similar way on the academic side.

– I have been given a great responsibility, and it feels like an exciting challenge. It is stimulating to be part of the management team and to establish good contact with heads of department and other key people. Both of my areas of responsibility are important for our faculty, and touch on complex issues. I am humbled by the fact that I still have a lot to get used to, says Jan Holgersson.

Mapping is in progress

Of the two areas of responsibility, research infrastructure is closest to him. For example, he himself as a researcher has used services at at least three of Core Facilities’ various platforms.

– It is my opinion that the platforms offered within Core Facilities are of a very high standard. They are good units with very competent staff. I am particularly familiar with proteomics and mass spectrometry, where I would like to claim that we are leaders in the country. Our unit for Mammalian Protein Expression, MPE, is also quite unique in Sweden, says Jan Holgersson.

He adds that even the animal experimental activities are both well structured and well equipped, but he has not personally used the animal facility. EBM is facing a redevelopment, because the premises need to be adapted for several different reasons. On the one hand, the research’s need for experimental research has changed, on the other hand the working environment for the employees within EBM needs to be improved, and the building also needs to be more energy efficient, both with economy and sustainability in mind. The upcoming remodeling of EBM is estimated to halve the building’s energy consumption.

Several years of investigations and discussions have resulted in the reconstruction taking place within the existing building. The renovation must take place in such a way that it causes the least possible disruption to the business. Affected employees receive more detailed information from Core Facilities, which also updates the Facilities Council on developments within the project.

Keep up with developments

The development of the infrastructures offered for research within the university is guided by the needs of the researchers. Here, a mobility that responds to their demand is required.

– We must make it possible for researchers to be able to carry out work at the forefront, with the necessary equipment. At the same time, a lot of coordination is required, both locally, regionally and nationally, so that we can cooperate and not duplicate investments in heavy infrastructure, says Jan Holgersson.

In addition to the task of working strategically with the faculty’s research infrastructures, it is also Jan Holgersson’s task to channel contacts with forums at various levels within the field. On a national level, it may involve collaborating with representatives of ministries and authorities, and on a regional level, representing Sahlgrenska Academy in various steering groups to create a consensus.

He thinks it is good that more and more investments in infrastructure are taking place at the national level, but this means that the universities must coordinate. Sahlgrenska Academy is part of several national initiatives, from biobanking and precision medicine to mass spectrometry and microscopy.

– We must use our resources as well as possible. Now a grouping is being started with representatives from SA, NatFak, Chalmers and SU that will map the infrastructure that could be available but which is not currently within a Core facility, says Jan Holgersson.

An extended arm

The faculty’s management team, with the dean, deputy dean and vice deans, collaborates on many of the issues that concern large parts of the faculty. Many issues cross borders between the vice-deans’ areas of responsibility, and responsibilities are distributed in dialogue within the management team.

– I see myself as the dean’s extended arm, because she cannot possibly be involved in all the contexts related to the development of research infrastructure where Sahlgrenska Academy needs to be represented. My first time I spend a lot on orienting myself and understanding all contexts, and my view is that we help each other. I want to be responsive and listen in, and receive input from prefects and other business representatives, says Jan Holgersson.

Study environments in focus

Medicinarlängan is an important artery for the entire Medicinareberget Campus, but as a study environment it is not that appealing. Recently, a campus development project has focused on creating better environments for our students. Premises development is carried out in collaboration between the Council for Premises, the Education Council and the Campus Council. The latest result from the project is the new study places on the lower level of Medicinarlängan, near Natrium, which are planned to be inaugurated at the end of the spring semester. Premises are now shared to a greater extent with the Faculty of Science, which requires dialogue with the neighboring faculty as well.

Regarding Sahlgrenska Life, the University of Gothenburg is currently waiting for information from the Västra Götaland region. The project is on hold since both the university and the region chose to turn down the rental offer that the property developers offered. Discussions are now underway within the region on how the project can be taken forward. Only when the region has made its decisions can the university continue the dialogue on the development of the area near the hospital.

– The Sahlgrenska Academy must not stagnate, but we must continue to develop and think ahead. Regarding our future premises, we need to imagine what we will need in ten or twenty or thirty years, and how we can already prepare now to continue conducting really good research and teaching. At the same time, we should not build ourselves up, but make sure to find a balance where we can handle the rental costs that arise, says Jan Holgersson.

Immunological mechanisms behind organ rejection

Jan Holgersson started research as a medical student in Gothenburg. After his defense in 1991, he spent almost three years as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Since 2009, after almost 15 years in Stockholm, he is back in Gothenburg again.

He is a professor of transplantation immunology at the Department of Biomedicine, and primarily conducts research on the immunological mechanisms behind organ rejection. He also has a combined position as chief physician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, where for a long time he was also operations manager for Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine. Through his work with advanced drugs at the Cell and Tissue Laboratory and at the Stem Cell Laboratory, he has in recent years been involved in developments in the ATMP field.

BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM