2010-07-07 Message from the TORNADO Leadership
Greetings from a sunny, summer-like Stockholm. Time flies and we are now already ten months into the TORNADO project. Gradually we are picking up speed and it is with great pleasure that we report on some of the progress that has been made towards achieving our goals. The management team is also gratified by the considerable communication that has taken place between partners within the various work packages. In addition, we appear to be ‘on track’ regarding the deliverables for the first reporting period, i.e. 18 months.

However, there is no time to rest, much more can be done to further fuel the interaction in this diverse network called TORNADO. One such possibility is to arrange for informal but effective work package meetings. We have therefore decided to give priority to these WP meetings. Some of these ideas are already circulating and we are glad to see that some of the WPs have arranged/are arranging such meetings for the coming months. Those WPs who have not already done so, do let us know if we can assist in any possible way to make it happen. We are also prepared to allocate some funding for this in order to stimulate interactions.

A one-day training course for young European scientists will be organized in conjunction with the WP3&4 meeting in Lausanne on Jan 24-25, 2011. As planned, the next Project Steering Group (PSG) meeting will take place as a telephone conference on Nov 22, 2010.  Further information regarding this teleconference will be distributed in September.

Another piece of news! In order to promote and market the objectives and targets for TORNADO, we plan to organize a Web based conference in Paris in May 2011.  This will be under the umbrella of Gut Flora/Health and in conjunction with ’Collège de France’ and Prof Philippe Sansonetti. More information and details will follow later in the year.

As you know our website is in a way a lifeline for communication, and the more we use it the more transparency we will achieve. Therefore we encourage you all to be as active as you possibly can in submitting items of interest to our webmaster John Sennett ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) for inclusion on our homepage.

In line with this, we have decided that new technologies and logistics should be uploaded onto the TORNADO homepage. This will make for easier access to technology platforms available within TORNADO.

In conclusion, TORNADO is presently up and running at the speed of a steam ship, but we are aiming for higher speeds and more consolidation! With these few words from the management team, we wish you all a productive time ahead generating new and exciting results!

Sven Pettersson
Joseph Rafter

2010-06-16 HEPADIP 2010. “Liver & Adipose Tissue in the Metabolic Syndrome" 18-20 October, 2010.  The HEPADIP final meeting is in Lausanne, Switzerland. There are a limited number of seats available to non HEPADIP members. Details of how to register and abstract submission can be found on the website: HEPADIP Website

2010-03-20 Access to the intranet is now possible for all partners in the consortium. Password have been emailed out; if you have forgotten your password use the forgotton your password? function underneath the login form on the left. You can also contact the webmaster if you have problems: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

2010-02-17 Tornado paves the way for tailor-made dietary products. Karolinska Institutet is coordinating a new research project to chart the molecular mechanisms used by our normal gut flora that affect our physiology of our body. This fascinating project goes by the name of Tornado and has been funded to the tune of SEK 62 million by the EU's Seventh Framework Programme.

"The aim is to identify biomarkers for the development of tailor-made dietary products and medicines," says Sven Pettersson, the professor at Karolinska Institutet who is heading up the project.

The research field, which studies the relationship between bacteria and host, is in an expansive phase. New findings have shown showing that our normal gut flora have the ability to affect our bodily functions in ways which we did not previously realise were possible. We now know that our gut flora strengthen the immune system, affect the formation of blood vessels in the gut wall, regulate the storage of fat, affect the detoxification system that breaks down medicines in the liver, and have an anti-inflammatory effect on local inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract.

"But this is just the tip of the iceberg,2", says Pettersson. "Even more remarkable is the fact that bacterial products can also have a systemic effect. Identifying these substances, their signalling paths and, of course, the target organs is also one of the main aims of the project."

The Tornado team comprises members from eight countries, with representatives from both academia and industry. Tornado is an acronym for: "molecular Targets Open for Regulation by the gut flora; New Avenues for improved Diet to Optimize European health". Alongside Pettersson, the research work will be led by professor Joseph Rafter and Dr Velmurugesan Arulampalam at Karolinska Institutet.

Research into gut flora is a priority at Karolinska Institutet, and is carried out on mice especially reared under sterile conditions in a unique animal unit. This is known as germ-free research, and begun in the 1950s by the late professor Bengt Gustafsson. It is also one of the factors that attracted EU funding for TORNADO. The project is set to strengthen Karolinska Institutet´s international standing further in this research field.