A Week of Science, Screens, and Gratitude
Last week was one of those rare moments where science, teamwork, and personal history came together in a way that made us pause and reflect.
At the Kohler Proteostasis Lab and the Kohler Mito Lab, we launched our largest screen to date using the FAST platform – a high-throughput robotic system that we’ve spent years developing and optimizing. The screen is still running and will continue until early November. We’re testing 20 different growth conditions with our latest yeast library, exploring everything from disease modeling to aging. It’s a massive effort, and both labs got creative in designing the screen and coordinating the logistics.
On Thursday, we had the honor of welcoming the Board of Directors from Kempestiftelserna and a delegation from Umeå University. We gave them a tour of the FAST platform and shared the story behind it – a story that’s not just about technology, but also about how our labs came to be.
When Andreas and I first applied to Umeå University, we were both shortlisted for the same position and invited to the job interview – as competitors. Back then, we decided to support each other the best way we could and make sure each of us performed at our highest potential. But instead of choosing one of us, the university made a generous decision: they offered two positions, allowing each of us to start our own lab. That moment was the beginning of the Kohler Mito Lab and the Kohler Proteostasis Lab.
With the support of Kempestiftelserna, we received our first competitive funding, which allowed us to kick-start our research and build the FAST platform and our labs. Standing in front of it last week, with the robot running in the background, we explained our motivation and showed how high-throughput approaches can transform experimental workflows – comparing traditional methods with the scale and speed of automated screening. We even brought out flasks, multiwell plates, and two real screening plates – of course disinfected and meticulously sealed. Not because yeast is dangerous, but because we wanted our guests to feel comfortable while still getting a tangible sense of what this technology means for our work.
Although our scientific interests differ – Andreas focuses on mitochondrial biology, while I work on proteostasis and stress responses – we share a common goal: to understand how cells adapt and survive, and to develop tools that help us explore these questions more efficiently. We use our individual expertise to complement and strengthen each other’s work, and we’re lucky to have built a collaborative environment where ideas flow freely between our teams. So far, our team members collaborate beautifully, and we’re excited to make this connection even stronger – because every expertise matters.
Looking ahead, we’re not only excited about the discoveries to come, but also about the joy of doing science together. We’re deeply grateful for the support we’ve received, and for the chance to build something meaningful from what started as a competitive interview. It’s a reminder that science is not just about data and experiments – it’s about people, trust, and shared goals.
📸 Photo: Andreas and me in front of the FAST platform.