Background and activities

Positions: Study programme leader at the Office for Medical Education (OME / Enhet for legeutdanning). Associate professor in medican statistics at the Department of Public Health and Nursing.  

Qualifications

 

Research interests

  • Allergy related disease
  • Prevention
  • Immunological components of breast milk
  • Breastfeeding
  • Clinical trials

 

Ongoing research:

My current research involves a combination of epidemiological, clinical and translational studies investigating the prevention of allergy related diseases.  I primarily work with data from the Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim (PACT) study, and the associated substudies. I am also involved research into the immunological components of breast milk, and how these contribute to the development of the microbiota, gastrointestinal system and immune system of newborn infants.  

Probtiotics in the Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim (ProPACT) Study

>The ProPACT study is a randomised, placebo contolled study which investigated the use of probiotic supplementation given to women during the last 4 weeks of pregnancy until 3 months after birth.  At 2 years of age, we observed that women born to mothers in the probiotic group had a 40 % reduction in the cumulative incidence of eczema.  The biological mechanisms behind this preventive effect are incompletely understood. We are using samples collected during the ProPACT study to investigate these biological mechanisms from different angles.  

 

The ProPACT Study is a substudy of the larger population intervention study (PACT) which aimed to reduce childhood allergy related diseases through reducing environmental smoke and damp/mold exposure and increasing fish consumption during pregnancy and early infancy.