From molecules to precision medicine (SAMSNIÐ)

SAMSNID aims to build up four support facilities for Icelandic biomedical sciences: 

1. Cell analysis and sorting facility. In recent years, methods that allow phenotyping of cells have become even more important to understand sub-populations and interactions among cells. Major progress has been made and now instruments have been developed that allow analysis of over 20 molecules per cell. This technology is a real necessity for diverse fields of biosciences, from basic science to the identification of cells needed for cellular therapy.
2. Imaging facility. Microscopy and imaging have undergone major improvements in the last few years. In addition to constant improvements in conventional, fluorescent, confocal and electric microscopy, now newer instruments have been developed such as multi-photon, light sheet and super-resolution microscopes.
3. Small animal facility. The University of Iceland Biomedical Center and ArcticLAS have been building a modern infrastructure for small animal experiments. The long-term goal is to move this infrastructure into academic surroundings, improve and expand it.
4. Genomics facility. Major improvements have occurred in genomic technology, and these techniques are used in more and more bioscience fields. We aim to build a sequencing facility that allows for long-range sequencing as well as single-cell sequencing approaches. 

In addition to these four support facilities we want to create infrastructure accessible for startup companies in biotech and pharma. Iceland has many biotech and pharma companies, several of which have emerged from academia. Very few startups have research facilities and the equipment needed to develop their products. SAMSNID will develop infrastructure that allows these companies to use the biomedical science facilities to develop their products.

Finally, we aim to build a setup for precision medicine. Cellular treatment is becoming a new field within medical science, and Landspitali – National University Hospital of Iceland is working on setting up a new site to transplant cells into patients. SAMSNID will participate in setting this up.

The infrastructures that will be built up by SAMSNID are essential support facilities for the biomedical sciences, and they will be useful for most people working in biomedicine in Iceland. These facilities are necessary for Icelandic research to be internationally competitive, and to allow Icelandic researchers to participate in the current biotechnology revolution.

Biotechnology and pharma are becoming important industries in Iceland, and it is likely that this industry will play an important role going forward. Thus, it is important to continue building infrastructure for this field, with collaboration between universities, organisations and businesses.

• University of Iceland, Landspitali – National University Hospital of Iceland
• Keldur – Institute for Experimental Pathology
• Akureyri University
• ArcticLAS
• Vísindagarðar – science park
• Reykjavík University
• Akthelia
• ArcticMass
• Capretto
• EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals
• BioCule