GRANTS. The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation is now investing SEK 36.7 million in research on neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer, that is headed by Professor Ruth Palmer at the University of Gothenburg. The large grant gives researchers access to new top-class analytical methods. The project is a collaboration among three research teams at Sahlgrenska Academy, the University of Gothenburg, and an equal number of teams at Karolinska Institutet.…
Young Fernström Prize to Erik Larsson Lekholm
DISTINCTIONS. Erik Larsson Lekholm is this year’s recipient at Sahlgrenska Academy of the Young Fernström Prize, or as the prize is officially known, the Eric K. Fernström Prize for young, particularly promising and successful researchers. Earlier this year Erik was also appointed professor of bioinformatics, with a special focus on large-scale analysis of DNA and RNA. The personal prize of SEK 90,000 is timely, Erik tells me when I meet…
Important to be open to discussing sex with young cancer survivors
DOCTORAL THESIS. Feeling unattractive and dissatisfied with their sexual ability – that is reality for many teenage and young adult cancer survivors. Research from Sahlgrenska Academy now gives a voice to a group that often has a difficult journey back to a normal life. “People in healthcare are afraid to talk about this, but you have to dare and you have to be willing, without being brusque or overly upbeat,”…
Ka-Wei Tang seeks answers about a cancer virus almost everyone has
YOUNG RESEARCHERS. As a physician in clinical microbiology with research time in the Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine (WCMTM), Ka-Wei Tang is investigating a potential Achilles heel of the Epstein-Barr virus. If the hypothesis holds true, the research may eventually lead to a new cancer treatment. It’s clear that the translational concept, in which basic scientific methods provide answers to clinical questions and hopefully are quickly converted to…
RNA-based therapy cures lung cancer in mouse models
By turning down the activity of a specific, so-called RNA molecule, researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy have cured lung tumors in mice by 40-50 percent. The results, published in Nature Communications, represent the tip of the iceberg in an extensive research project in which 633 new biomarkers for 14 types of cancer have been identified. A research group led by Chandrasekhar Kanduri, professor of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology, studied how…