March-April 2025: Two new group leaders at Dept. Molecular Oncology
The establishment of new groups in Computational Oncology and Cancer Informatics is in line with the ICR strategy to strengthen efforts in systems cancer biomedicine and integrate such competence at the departmental level. It is also in line with the Department’s long-term strategy to recruit senior scientists with complementary competencies, serving our joint research goals.
Anita Sveen was appointed Group Leader by recommendation of the Head of ICR and its leadership group, and with approval of Sigbjørn Smeland, Head of Division of Cancer Medicine. Dr Sveen has been full-time Associate Professor at the University of Oslo since 2018 and served as a senior scientist/project leader at OUS. She has developed expertise in computational pharmacogenomics and tumor heterogeneity modelling, attracted major funding, and published well-cited and recognized works (including as senior author on Moosavi et al., Brit J Surgery 2025; Langerud et al., Nat Comm 2024; Nunes et al., Mol Cancer 2024; and first author on Sveen et al., Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2020). She will lead a new group in Computational Oncology with seven members per April 2025.
Bjarne Johannessen was recently recruited as group leader in Cancer Informatics. This position was advertised under the Systems Biomedicine umbrella at ICR. Dr. Johannessen was selected among twelve applicants after evaluation by an international scientific committee and in-depth interviews. The position is shared between 50% research activities and 50% bioinformatics infrastructure. Johannessen has extensive technical experience with national high-performance computing infrastructure and advanced analyses of omics-data. He is formally trained as a PhD in Bioinformatics and with MSc’s in both Informatics and Biology, showcasing his multidisciplinary strengths. He is dedicated to research on hormone-related solid cancers, including prostate and ovarian cancers (Sveen, Johannessen et al., JCI Insight 2024; Strømme, Johannessen et al., Cancer Gene Therapy 2022; Sveen, Johannessen et al., Genome Med 2021; Løvf et al., Eur Urol 2019).