I have a background in cancer immunology, translational oncology, and immunotherapy-based drug combinations. My expertise lies within the study of the tumor–immune microenvironment, in vivo cancer models, and molecular techniques such as RNA sequencing, CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing, and flow cytometry. In the Breast Tumor Evolution Group, my research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which the receptor tyrosine kinase FGFR1 regulates innate immune signaling and DNA sensing through the cGAS–STING pathway, and on determining how FGFR1 inhibition influences anti-tumor immunity in immunologically cold breast cancer.

Publications 2025

Dhakal S, Siraji MI, Grøndal S, Skarsten GN, Moutoussamy EE, Gausdal G, Lorens JB, Bougnaud S (2025) AXL kinase inhibition promotes cytosolic DNA sensor cGAS activity and sensitizes poorly immunogenic tumors to chemo-immunotherapy Mol Cancer Ther, MCT-24-0440. PubMed: 41263056. DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-24-0440

Publications 2020

Agnete S.T. Engelsen, Katarzyna Wnuk-Lipinska, Sebastien Bougnaud, Dhakal S, Tuan Zea Tan, Stacey D’mello Peters, Sturla Grøndal, Sura M. Aziz, Silje Nord, Lars Herfindal, Martha R. Stampfer, Therese Sørlie, Rolf A. Brekken, Oddbjørn Straume, Nils Halberg, Gro Gausdal, Jean Paul Thiery, Lars A. Akslen, Ole W. Petersen, Mark A. LaBarge, James B. Lorens (2020) AXL Is a Driver of Stemness in Normal Mammary Gland and Breast Cancer iScience, 23: 101649 PubMed: 33103086. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101649

Lotsberg ML, Chen S, Dhakal S, Lorens JB, Baguley B, Chouaib S, Engelsen AST (2020) Autophagy-mediated danger signaling regulates tumor immunosurveillance and may potentiate the effects of anti-cancer immunotherapy through increased adjuvanticity In: Autophagy in Immune Response: Impact on Cancer Immunotherapy (Chapter 8) Academic Press / Elsevier DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-819609-0.00008-0