Research at Oslo University Hospital

The project SECRET (Exploration of the SECRETory pathway for cancer therapy) has been funded 4 mill EUR from H2020 to establish a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (H2020-MSCA-ITN). The objective of SECRET is to improve the understanding of the mutual regulation of the secretory pathway and cell signaling to identify and interrogate novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for application in breast- and colorectal cancer. Two Norwegian researchers are partners, Prof Gunhild M. Mælandsmo, Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), Oslo University Hospital and Prof Hesso Farhan, Institute of Basic Medical Science (IMB), University of Oslo, together receiving funding for three Early Stage Researchers (ERS).

The Norwegian Inflammation Network (NORIN) invites you to a seminar "Future approaches to understand and treat inflammatory diseases."

Time: Monday, 23 September, from 14:40 PM
Place: Runde (Round) Auditorium, Domus Medica, Sognsvannsveien 9, University of Oslo

Speakers: Peter Taylor, Jose Ordovas-Montanes and Øystein Sandanger.

The 5th European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress was arranged in Oslo from June 29 - July 2, 2019. Total number of participants was 6919, the highest ever in the history of EAN and the former EFNS. It was also the largest medical congress so far arranged in Norway.

ERGO, the Epilepsy Research Group of Oslo, was heavily involved in the congress, both with regard to organisationof the meeting and scientifically. Head of ERGO, Erik Taubøll, was Head of the Local Organising Committee and co-chair of the international programme committee.

In a new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers at Oslo University Hospital have demonstrated the activation of light-sensitive drugs by accelerated protons. Until now, such drugs –called photosensitisers (PSs) –had conventionally been used in clinical settings with activation by visible light in a cancer treatment known as photodynamic therapy (PDT). PSs preferentially accumulate in tumours, especially in the brain, due to local destruction of the blood/brain barrier at the tumour site. When the drugs interact with light, they create toxic oxygen by-products that kill the cancerous tissues around them.

Researchers Anita Sveen and Ragnhild A. Lothe at the Department of Molecular Oncology describe in collaboration with gastrointestinal oncologist Scott Kopetz at MD Anderson Cancer Centre (US) the complexity of biomarker-driven precision oncology in colorectal cancer.

Precision medicine is required to manage the heterogeneous drug responses observed in patients with leukemia.

In a recent study published in the journal Leukemia, Sigrid S. Skånland and co-workers at Oslo University Hospital developed a method for dose prediction, which may be implemented in clinical practice.

Three scientists received awards for their outstanding research at a ceremony taking place at Oslo University Hospital August 23rd. 

The major prize - the "Excellent Researcher Award" - went to Ole A. Andreassen. Mette Kalager and Anita Sveen both received the "Early Career Award".

In a recent publication in the journal Cell Reports, Kari-Anne M Frikstad, in team with six international collaborators and her co-workers in Sebastian Patzke's project group at the Institute for Cancer Research, provides new insights on how cells build a functional antenna for sensation of a key developmental signaling pathway required for normal brain development.  

In a recent paper in the journal Autophagy, Dr. Yan Zhen and her co-workers in Harald Stenmark's group at Institute for Cancer Research and Centre for Cancer Cell Reprogramming (CanCell) show a mechanism for how autophagosomes are sealed, a crucial step in autophagy.