Sweden Day 11: Karolinska Institute

14 April 2010
Stockholm, Sweden
Karolinska Institute
Huddinge

Today was pretty much a research introduction day. Amadou's wife Lillian took us around the Karolinska Institute which is one of the best research institutions in the world--for some reason fourth comes to mind when I think of rank, but I'm not really sure where I came up with that...anyhow, we met several researchers in various areas: NK cells and multiple myeloma; mitochondria and Alzheimer's disease; dendritic cells and multiple myeloma; and thryoid hormone analogues and dyslipidemias. We got tours of the facilities and the labs associated with each of these fields. We also had lunch with Lillian and talked a little healthcare reform and politics which was interesting.

I do not have any interesting photos or details to impart as we didn't understand too awful much of the in depth details we were told. In fact, we couldn't even be told too much because of the competitive nature of research. The lab space looked pretty much like the lab spaces you'd expect to see.

For dinner, we've been invited to Amadou and Lillian's home, so I'll report back on that when I know how it went. Amadou is African, and Lillian is Swedish, so it should be a very interesting evening. They have a son who is 11 and goes to a school which has special music programs. I'm hoping we get a performance =)


Addendum: It is an understatement to say that this was our best night in Sweden. We took the Pendeltag (commuter train; also part of our SL train passes) to Spagna. From there, we somehow managed to find Amadou and Lillian’s house. Their house was a cute little yellow one. It was decorated very eclectically, so it’s hard to describe. We were welcomed out to the back porch with champagne which was in the full sunlight of the afternoon while Amadou cooked some porkchops on the grill.

Once the sun started going down, we moved back inside. The meal was absolutely amazing—again a very eclectic mix, but excellent. There were vegetables made by an African tribal recipe that Amadou knew. There was peanut sauce (AMAZZZZING). We had the porkchops, of course, which Josh swears were spicy, but maybe I’m just immune…there were also fries and a yogurt sauce (that was really much like some kind of sour cream dip, but a little thicker). There was also rice and a caprese salad. It was really excellent, and I can’t say how much I loved that peanut sauce! Amadou told us how to make it and swore that was easy, but I’m skeptical. I’m going to email him for the exact recipe =)

We left sometime around 10:30, but just missed the Pendeltag back, so we had to wait in the station for 30 minutes on the next one. Needless to say, this was a late night, but well worth it. Amadou is endlessly entertaining.