University of Gothenburg
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Anders Blomberg

PROFESSOR

Department of Chemistry & Molecular
Biology
Telephone
+46 733-60 46 24
Mail
anders.blomberg@cmb.gu.se
Visiting address
Medicinaregatan 9 c
41390 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 462
40530 Göteborg

About Anders Blomberg

SHORT CV Anders Blomberg recieved his PhD in Microbiology in 1988 on a dissertation entitled "Osmoregulation and Osmotolerance in yeast". He is since 2002 professor in Functional Genomics at the University of Gothenburg. During the years 2001 - 2008 he acted program director for the Swedish National Research School in genomics and bioinformatics. Blomberg has been vice-coordinator of the Center for Marine Evolutionary Biology (CEMEB) at the university since 2010. He has published 95 primary publications in international journals and 15 overview articles / book chapters (h-index 41; number of citations 7600). Blomberg runs a research group of 7 - 10 people, and has been the main supervisor for 13 doctoral students and 17 post-docs.

RESEARCH GROUP (2019-11-25) Ulrika Lind (researcher), Magnus Alm Rosenblad (researcher), Anna Abramova (postdoc), Vaskar Mukherjee (postdoc, shared with Chalmers), Ashraful Alam (master's student), Sameh az Aldeen (master's student)

RESEARCH The research in Blomberg's group runs along four main tracks:

i) Osmoregulatory mechanisms of eukaryotes Blomberg has for a long time used genome-wide technologies, e.g. proteomics and phenomics, on the yeast Sacchaomyces cerevisiae to study salt stress and osmoregulatory mechanisms. These studies have resulted in the identification of genes involved in the production of the osmolyte glycerol (GPD1, GPP2), demonstrated the importance of N-terminal acetylation for specific stress proteins (TFS1) and provided a molecular understanding of salt stress-induced dihydroxyacetone toxicity (DAK1). We have also recently initiated studies of genes that are important in osmoregulation in the barnacle Balanus improvisus, via studies of e.g. the primary transporter Na+ / K+ ATPase, aquaporins and proline biosynthetic components. Salt-controlled genes in B. improvisus have been investigated via RNA sequencing and heterologous expression in yeast for functional characterization. We also conduct population-genomics and population-phenomics studies on the extremely salt-tolerant marine yeast Debaryomyces hansenii.

Selected publications: Lind, U., M. Järvå, M. Alm Rosenblad, P. Pingitore, E. Karlsson, A.-L. Wrange, E. Kamdal, K. Sundell, C. André, P. R. Jonsson, J. Havenhand, L. A. Eriksson, K. Hedfalk, A. Blomberg Analysis of aquaporins from the euryhaline barnacle Balanus improvisus reveals differential expression in response to changes in salinity. PLoS One, (2017) 12: e0181192

Lind, U., Alm Rosenblad, M., Wrange, A.-L., Sundell, K.S., Jonsson, P.R., André, C., Havenhand, J., Blomberg, A. Molecular characterization of the α-subunit of Na + / K + ATPase from the euryhaline barnacle Balanus improvisus reveals multiple genes and differential expression of alternative splice variants PLoS One, (2013) 8: e77069

ii) Phenomics - large-scale phenotypic profiling Phenotypic profiling of genetically defined strains, e.g. specific gene deletions or fully sequenced natural isolates, are necessary to gain an understanding of the genotype-phenotype relationship. We develop methodology for large-scale high-resolution phenotyping of microbial growth. Our systems enable analysis of up to 100,000 mutants / strains per week based on automated cultivation and measurement, in combination with robust statistics and extraction of growth characteristics. In various collaborations we have also developed and characterized genetically engineered strains. The phenotypic information is available on our phenomics database PROPHECY.

Selected publications: Zackrisson, M., J. Hallin, L. G. Ottosson, P. Dahl, E. Fernandez-Parada, E. Ländström, L. Fernandez-Ricaud, P. Kaferle, A. Skyman, S. Omholt, U. Petrovic, J. Warringer, A. Blomberg Scan-o-matic: high-resolution microbial phenomics on a massive scale G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, (2016) 6: 3003

Warringer J, Zörgö E, Cubillos FA, Zia A, Gjuvsland A, Simpson JT, Forsmark A, Durbin R, Omholt SW, Louis EJ, Liti G, Moses A, Blomberg A. Trait variation in yeast is defined by population history PLoS Genetics (2011) 7: e1002111

Liti, L., Carter, D., Moses, Warringer, J., A., Parts., L., James, S.A., Robert, P.D., Roberts, I.N., Burt, A., Koufopanou, V., Tsai, I.J. , Bergman, B., Bensasson, D., O'Kelly, M.J.T., von Oudenaarden, A., Barton, D.B., Bailes, E., Nguyen, A.N., Jones, M., Qual, M.A., Goodhead, I., Sims, S., Smith, F., Blomberg, A., Durbin, R., and Louis, EJ Population genomics of domestic and wild yeasts. Nature (2009) 458: 337

iii) Marine biotechnology Blomberg is involved in several projects in marine biotechnology: i) Studies of mechanisms for counteracting surface-growth in the marine environment (boat bottom paint), with emphasis on molecular studies of the barnacle Balanus improvisus, which is the main boifouling organism on hulls and structures in European waters. These studies have led to the identification and characterization of five octopamine receptors involved in the detection of the growth-inhibiting agent medetomidine (sold under the name "Selectope"). ii) Proteomics analysis for the identification of mucus components of the hagfish Myxine glutinosa for biomedical applications. iii) Analysis of barnacle cement proteins for the development of underwater adhesives. iv) Exploration of new marine substances through high-throughput chemical-genetic analyzes to get an idea of the substances' mode-of-action.

Selected publications: Abramova, A., Lind U., Blomberg A., Alm Rosenblad M The complex barnacle perfume: Identification of waterborne pheromone homologues in Balanus improvisus and their differential expression during settlement Biofouling, (2019) 35: 416

Ulrika Lind, Magnus Alm Rosenblad, Linda Hasselberg Frank, Susanna Falkbring, Lars Brive, Jonne M Laurila, Katariina Pohjanoksa, Anne Vuorenpää; Jyrki P. Kukkonen Lina Gunnarsson, Mika Scheinin, Lena G.E. Mårtensson Lindblad and Anders Blomberg. Octopamine receptors from the barnacle Balanus improvisus are activated by the α2-adrenoceptor agonist medetomidine. Molecular Pharmacology (2010) 78: 237

iv) Sequencing of the barnacle Balanus improvisus The group has been involved in a number of genome sequencing projects for marine organisms found along the Swedish west coast, with the aim of developing a number of marine key species in ecology and marine biotechnology into powerful genetic model systems. Above all, projects are being run to produce a good reference genome for the barnacle Balanus improvisus.

Selected publication: Alm Rosenblad, M., Abramova, A., Lind, U., Ólason, P., Giacomello, S., Nystedt, B., Blomberg, A. A pilot study for the sequencing of the Barnacle Balanus improvisus genome reveals extreme genetic diversity To be submitted

TEACHING - Bioinformatics and functional genomics, 15hec (BIO210) - Advanced functional genomics, 15hec (BIO406) - Drug Development, 7.5 credits (BIO523) - Course coordinator: Bioinformatics and functional genomics, 15hps (BIO210) (since 2000) - Course coordinator: Advanced functional genomics, 15 credits (BIO406) (since 2012) - Program manager for the master's program in genomics and systems biology (since 2012)

TRUST - Deputy Director of the Center for Marine Evolutionary Biology (since 2010) (University of Gothenburg.) - Member of Scientific Advisory Board for the yeast database Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) at Stanford University, USA (2006 - 2017) - Editorial board for FEMS Yeast Research (since 2007) - Editorial board for Microbial Cell (since 2013) - Member of the Organizing Committee for the International Yeast Genetics Meeting (2008-2013) - Member of the evaluation committee of the Swedish Research Council (2011 and 2012) - Chair for evaluation of higher basic education in Sweden (HSV / Uka) (2012) - Chair of evaluation of the European Science Foundation for the European Space Agency (ESA) program (2009) - Program Manager for the Swedish National Research School in Genomics and Bioinformatics (2002 - 2008)