SciLifeLab Linköping (Science for Life Laboratory) is a local site of the Swedish research infrastructure center SciLifeLab, with unique technologies and expert competence in health, environment, and data-driven life science.
SciLifeLab - a research infrastructure
SciLifeLab is available for academic researchers in life science and other stakeholders in industry and healthcare in Sweden and internationally.
We connect scientists in strong networks, for collaborations and exchange of knowledge. Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) is an investment for handling, storage and sharing the huge amount of data the growing technologies are generating.
SciLifeLab was founded in 2010 on commission from the government, with a strong support from Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation, as a common investment in research infrastructure at the four universities Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and Uppsala University. Since then, the center has grown nationally and during 2022 the local sites for coordination of SciLifeLab activities and research infrastructure started in Gothenburg, Linköping, Lund and Umeå. In addition, Örebro university hosts a SciLifeLab unit.
Today SciLifeLab is the largest life science infrastructure in Sweden, only oriented at bioscience, medicine and environment.
Advanced research infrastructure – Research network – Research data management – Knowledge building
Advanced research infrastructure with expertise
SciLifeLab's infrastructure consists of technology experts and equipment distributed across nine service areas that cover a large part of the life science research field with a breadth spanning from the atomic level up to entire ecosystems: genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and exposomics, spatialomics, cellular and molecular visualization, structural biology, chemical biology and genome engineering, drug discovery and bioinformatics. Nationally, there are approximately 40 separate units, each with their own specific focus on advanced equipment and expertise. Around 500 experts work full-time with almost 2,000 individual users in 4,500 different research projects per year.
A national research network
More than 350 SciLifeLab Group Leaders at all of Sweden's major universities form a research network for life sciences. Together, they develop and provide infrastructure technologies, scientific, technical and data expertise and bridge the knowledge that comes from research to societal benefits such as healthcare, industry and biodiversity.
Through a career program, successful young researchers have been recruited either as SciLifeLab fellows, Data Driven Life Science (DDLS) fellows or as Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine (WCMM) fellows. They are part of the Program for Academic Leaders in Life Science (PALS) and gain access to SciLifeLab's community, technologies and experts.
SciLifeLab also aims to strengthen networks between other existing research infrastructures, such as The European Spallation Source (ESS) and the Swedish synchrotron laboratory MaxIV, as well as local infrastructures, biobanks and similar support activities at universities. International cooperation takes place, among others, with the European research infrastructure The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the EU's research funding program Horizon Europe.
Research data management
At SciLifeLab, researchers can receive support in bioinformatics, storage and management of research data. The Data Centre and the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS) help both users and the infrastructure with solutions to data-related problems. Support in data management is also being established within each platform, where detailed knowledge of the technology together with how data coming from experiments can be managed. SciLifeLab, like Linköping University, is an active member of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) and is engaged in discussions around open science and FAIR principles.
Illustration of Data-driven Life Science.Data-driven life science (DDLS) is a national research program that involves 400 data scientists in four strategic research areas: cell and molecular biology, precision medicine and diagnostics, evolution and biodiversity, and epidemiology and biology of infection. Of the recruited assistant lecturers, five will be based at Linköping University. The DDLS program also recruits doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows for academia and industry.
Knowledge building
SciLifeLab organizes seminar series, workshops, symposia and other activities where researchers can meet, exchange knowledge and together drive the life sciences forward. Many of the events can be attended digitally. Every year, the Science Summit is organized with a new theme that engages many and builds bridges between academia, healthcare and industry. The Training Hub manages educational tools and advanced knowledge transfer to help with knowledge building within and outside SciLifeLab.