معرفی
Cilla Söderhäll is a Senior Lecturer and Docent (Associate Professor of Medical Genetics) at Karolinska Institutet, working within the Department of Women's and Children's Health, Division of Clinical Paediatrics. She leads the research group focused on 'Genetic and epigenetic factors in asthma and allergy' at BioMedicum in Solna, Sweden. Her academic journey includes a PhD in medical genetics from Karolinska Institutet (2001), an MSc in molecular biology from Stockholm University (1996), and postdoctoral training at Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité Campus Virchow Clinic in Berlin (2002-2005).
Her research focuses on developing molecular diagnostic and prognostic tools to differentiate between preschool children with wheeze who will develop chronic asthma versus those who will outgrow their symptoms. She specializes in medical genetics and genomics, pediatrics, and respiratory medicine and allergy, with particular expertise in the genetic and epigenetic factors underlying asthma and allergic diseases. Her work centers on understanding how genetic variants, environmental exposures, and molecular networks contribute to asthma development.
Dr. Söderhäll's research portfolio includes two major longitudinal studies: the GEWAC study (Gene Expression in Wheezing and Asthmatic Children), which follows 156 children from infancy through school age, and the PreventADALL study, a Nordic intervention trial examining atopic dermatitis and allergy prevention. Her publication record spans over 100 scientific articles in high-impact journals, with recent work focusing on biomarkers for asthma prediction, the role of skin barrier function in allergy development, and genetic/epigenetic mechanisms in respiratory diseases.
She has successfully supervised numerous PhD students as both main and co-supervisor, including Angela Hoyer, Anastasia Filiou, Katarina Stenberg Hammar, and others working on topics related to asthma genetics, biomarker discovery, and allergy prevention. Her research is supported by multiple grants from Swedish funding agencies including the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, Swedish Research Council, and Stockholm County Council.
