GRANT. Stefan Kuczera and Alessandro Camponeschi have each received SEK 600,000 for high quality cancer research from the Assar Gabrielsson Foundation. Stefan is working on AI to improve advanced imaging for prostate cancer, while Alessandro’s research will help improve treatment for children with Burkitt lymphoma.
Stefan Kuczera is a researcher at the Institute of Clinical Sciences, Department of Radiology. He is developing and applying deep neural network methods, a form of AI, to improve prostate cancer diagnostics using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI).
“We have recently developed a framework for robust and reproducible estimation of dMRI model parameters that can act as advanced biomarkers for prostate cancer grading,” he says. “But the approach is not yet practical for larger patient cohorts due to the long calculation times.”
Deep learning methods are expected to outperform conventional methods in terms of robustness, image quality, and computational performance. These methods will be applied to patient data collected at Sahlgrenska University Hospital using a dedicated acquisition sequence.
Stefan defended his thesis on magnetic resonance physics at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington in 2015. After a period spent working as a postdoctor at Lund University, he joined the University of Gothenburg in 2018.
More treatment alternatives are needed.
With his expertise in B-cells, Alessandro Camponeschi hopes to contribute toward better treatment for children with Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive cancer that originates from cells in the body’s lymphatic system, and for which more effective treatment alternatives are needed.
In the current study, Alessandro will investigate CD38, a protein in the cell membrane that is highly expressed in both Burkitt lymphoma and other B-cell malignancies.
“The aim is to assess the therapeutic potential of CD38 as a target protein, which could lead to new treatment alternatives for children suffering from this form of B-cell cancer,” he explains.
Alessandro is a researcher at the Institute of Medicine’s Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation. During his doctoral studies in Italy, he worked on B-cells in health and various diseases at several laboratories, including common variable immunodeficiency and rheumatoid arthritis. As a postdoctor in Gothenburg, he began to focus on human B-cell development and its clinical consequences, such as immunodeficiency, autoimmunity, and cancer. His current research focuses on B-cell receptor biology and the role played by its signaling in the growth and survival of B-cell malignancies.
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
