Ongoing Projects
Microchip technology for rapid diagnosis and treatment monitoring of lung cancer and malignant melanoma patients using exosome based liquid biopsy
Despite significant advancements in targeted or immune therapies, the survival rate of lung cancer continues to be low (5-yearsurvival less than 10 %). This is largely a consequence of intrinsic or acquired resistance to a given treatment calling for different treatment approaches. Thus, monitoring treatment responses by non-invasive methods can significantly improve the outcome by providing the necessary feedback to the clinical decision point. During the past decade, tumour-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a potent source of such biomarkers since EV-cargo of RNA and proteins reflects their tumour cell of origin. Within this project, a novel microchip-based technology will be vaidated for liquid biopsy-based treatment monitoring of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) upon treatment with EGFR-TKI or ICI pembroluzimab.
Project period: 2022-2023
Functional microfluidics and electrokinetic modulation in microchip sensors for single molecule analysis
Addressing highly sensitive biomolecule detection, the aim of the proposal is to perform theoretical and experimental investigations on the electrokinetic response of biomolecular interaction events and exploit it for detection and analysis with a microchip based sensor.
Funding: Vetenskapsrådet (Starting grant)
Project period: 2017-2020
Detection and analysis of tumor and blood-borne markers using new nanotechnology for early diagnosis and monitoring of cancer
Despite major progress in tumor detection and in targeted therapy approaches, cancer continues to be a major cause of death. This is largely due to the metastatic spread, often occurring already at the time of the initial diagnosis, resulting in a poor prognosis for the patient as illustrated in lung- and pancreatic cancer. Also for other cancer forms, early detection and understanding of oncogenic drivers of the tumor are both keys for improvement of the therapeutic outcome of the disease. Reliable and sensitive methods to analyse cancer markers in an easily accessible patient sample, e.g. a blood sample, are highly needed.
The project aim is to develop a micro-chip based technique for multiple sensing of a palette of biomarkers to enable analyses of minute tumor biopsies and material isolated from blood e.g. tumor associated extracellular vesicles (exosomes). The technique will enable a direct, sensitive, cheap and fast analysis providing diagnosis and monitoring treatment responses in different tumors.
Funding: Erling Perssons Family Foundation
Project period: 2017-2021
Collaborators
Simultaneous detection of protein, RNA and DNA in single immune cells
The human immune system is a complex system made up of many specialized cell populations that compete for growth factors, stimulate each other to respond, but also suppress each other to prevent immune pathology. The immune system is a decentralized system and all system-level responses are determined by the combined actions of these different cell populations and can only be understood from analyses involving all these different cell populations simultaneously.
This project aims to develop high throughput technologies to analyze all the constituents of the central dogma of molecular biology in single immune cells.
Funding: Vetenskapsrådet
Project period: 2019-2023
Collaborators
