GRANTS. In the Swedish Cancer Society’s latest call for proposals, three junior researchers at the University of Gothenburg receive funding: Elinor Bexe Lindskog at the Institute of Clinical Sciences and Avlant Nilsson and Roshan Vaid at the Institute of Biomedicine.
Elinor Bexe Lindskog has been given the Junior Investigator Award, which awards her SEK 5.2 million. Her project deals with individualized cancer treatment for patients with colorectal cancer, based on the specific characteristics of the tumor. She is investigating whether the patient’s own immune system can be modified to attack and kill cancer cells through immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy for colorectal cancer
Bexe Lindskog is a surgeon specializing in colorectal cancer. Thanks to successful research, an average of 80 to 90 per cent of those afflicted survive if the disease is detected at an early stage. In most cases, surgery to remove the tumor suffices. But the prognosis is not quite as good for patients whose cancer is detected at a later stage.
“When the cancer has spread to the peritoneum, we now offer some patients treatment with extensive surgery and chemotherapy in the abdomen,” says Bexe Lindskog. “But complications are common, resulting in a high risk of death from the disease. We simply have to find ways to improve treatment for these patients.”
She will now study the immune system in metastatic peritoneal cancer to see if immunotherapy could be a possible treatment.
“Finding new methods is important to increase the survival rate of these patients. In addition, we also want to look at why some patients relapse, even though their cancer is detected at one of the earliest stages. This would allow us to identify which patients need to supplement their surgery with chemotherapy to reduce the risk of recurrence,” says Bexe Lindskog.
Two researchers at the Institute of Biomedicine
Avlant Nilsson, currently a postdoc in a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has also been given the Junior Investigator Award for a position at the Institute of Biomedicine. His project focuses on machine learning-based models of cancer mechanisms. The Swedish Cancer Society’s grant totals SEK 6,348,000.
Roshan Vaid, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, has received SEK 2.2 million to fund his position. He is researching the RNA epitranscriptome as a therapeutic target for high-risk neuroblastoma.
In Sweden the Cancer Society is funding 31 researchers with grants totaling SEK 124.3 million.
“In times of economic instability, it feels incredibly gratifying that we can continue to fund Swedish cancer research, thanks to our generous donors. These are exciting times for cancer research, offering us an incredible amount of hope,” says Klas Kärre, chair of the Swedish Cancer Society’s research board.
By SWEDISH CANCER SOCIETY/ELIN LINDSTRÖM
