Three- and four-year funding for cancer projects. We congratulate MedTechLab's researcher Fredrik Strand who has recently been awarded research funding from both the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Cancer Foundation. 

In October, Fredrik Strand was awarded SEK 6,000,000 in funding from the Swedish Research Council (spread over four years) for the project “Developing machine learning models for MRI-based precision medicine for breast cancer”. And in November, he was awarded a further SEK 2 400 000 (three years) from the Swedish Cancer Foundation.

2022 is not over and already several researchers at the centre's project "Optical 3D microscopy for more effective treatment of kidney diseases" have enjoyed good success.
The prize recognizes one or more researchers/research students who have distinguished themselves through outstanding utilization of research results that have led to innovation.

Staffan Holmin at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, is awarded the Prize for Innovation and Utilization, 2022. Staffan Holmin is also a research leader at MedTechLabs in the programme Spectral CT-imaging and Endovascular Techniques.  

Read more about the priz and the prize committee’s motivation here. 

The project is a part of a broad, international multicenter study. Fredrik Strand, breast radiologist and researcher at Medtechlabs, is awarded SEK 4 million from Horizon Europe as one of several participants in the RadioVal project, who received a total grant of SEK 60 million.

RadioVal is the first broad multicenter study of radiomics-driven clinical evaluation of neoadjuvant therapy response to breast cancer. The project is based on tools and repositories of images created within five EU-funded projects from the AI ​​for Health Imaging network (AI4HI). To evaluate usability and transferability, validation will take place in eight different centres in Sweden, Austria, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Argentina, Egypt and Turkey.

The Radiology part of the program Breast Cancer Imaging program powered by AI Diagnostics, with Research leaders Kevin Smith, KTH and Fredrik Strand, Karolinska Institutet have been granted funding by the WASP and DDLS Joint call for research projects with SEK 3 875 000 for two years.

The project Transforming Breast Cancer (TransformBC) will recruit two postdocs starting April 1 2022. The first position with a focus on the development of new AI algorithms (KTH from WASP) and the second with a focus on clinical validation of the AI ​​algorithms (KI from DDLS). 

The Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) is a major national initiative for strategically motivated basic research, education and faculty recruitment. It is by far the largest individual research program in Sweden.

The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) is an initiative to handle that the amount and complexity of data is growing exponentially, and that more scientific discoveries are enabled when data is openly available to researchers across the world.

MedTechLabs has had an intense but rewarding year and here we point out some of the highlights.

Centre Highlights 2021 


1. The new CT-lab opened. On Friday 29 October, we inaugurated our new CT laboratory at BioClinicum, Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. Read more here
 
2. MedTechLabs Fellows Jeroen Goos and Mats Persson were awarded with Swedish Research Council´s starting Grant. Each 4-year Grant amounts to 4 million SEK. Read more here and here
 
3. MedTechLabs Research leaders, Johan Hartman and Mattias Rantalainen, were granted 20 million SEK from Vinnova, for clinical implementation of new diagnostic solutions based on AI for breast cancer pathology. Read more here
 
4. MedTechLabs Research leaders Hans Blom and Sigrid Lundberg, newly affiliated to MedTechLabs with the project “Optical 3D microscopy for more effective diagnosis of kidney diseases”, achieved 1,56 million SEK from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. Read more here
 
5. Analysis of the strengths of patents generated by the research leaders in the Spectral CT-imaging and Endovascular Techniques within MedTechLabs, showed to be on par with world class environments at Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University. Read more here

6. MedTechLabs Research leaders Peder Olofsson and Henrik Hult achieved a donation by the foundation Stockholm Pandemic Resilience to the project “Enhanced diagnose of patients with long COVID” within the Bioelectronic Medicine program. Read more here

1,56 million swedish crowns in funding for the project "Optical 3D microscopy for more effective diagnosis of kidney diseases".

It is with great joy we can announce that the Torsten Söderberg Foundation has granted 1,56 million swedish crowns in funding for the project “Optical 3D microscopy for more effective diagnosis of kidney diseases” at MedTechLabs. The project is lead by Sigrid Lundberg, MD, Renal Researcher/ nephrologist, KI / KS Danderyd and Hans Blom, Associate Professor, KTH / Scilifelab. Read more about the project here

On Friday 29 October, we inaugurated our new CT laboratory at BioClinicum, adjacent to Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. In addition to a tour of the laboratory and an ensuing reception, several speeches were given on the significance of the new CT laboratory. The following is an excerpt from the speech given by the chief executive officer of Karolinska University Hospital, Björn Zoëga.

“The CT technology that became available during the 1970s opened up a whole new world for us doctors. This, the next stage in development, offers unbounded possibilities. Here at Karolinska University Hospital, in various ways we treat 1.3 million patients every year. Our aim is that the hospital should constantly progress and provide better care and treatment and I believe that we have demonstrated that we can do so. The fact that we are now the first in the world with this new technology also affirms both that Karolinska Institutet is ranked among the best environments for clinical research in the world, and that Karolinska University Hospital is advancing as one of the best hospitals in the world.

Our machinery and its relationship to how we work as Europe’s smartest hospital means that we must constantly move forwards. To do so together with others is a success factor, and the CT laboratory is an excellent example of this. The strength in working together has been made particularly apparent during the pandemic. It means a great deal to the hospital and the hospital’s patients that clinical studies are now underway to ensure that the next generation of computed tomography benefits patients and the health service.”

Awarded with Swedish Research Counicil's starting Grant within Natural and Engineering Sciences. MedTechLabs fellow, Mats Persson is awarded as a junior researcher to establish himself as independent researcher in Sweden. The 4-year grant amounts to SEK 4 000 000.

The grant is directed to the project “Highly accurate spectral photon counting CT for improved cancer diagnosis”

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality with an expected 10 million deaths annually. A very widely used imaging modality for diagnosing cancer is x-ray computed tomography (CT), which provides three-dimensional images of the human body is reconstructed from x-ray measurements. Despite its high usefulness, there are limitations with the current CT technology with respect to diagnostic quality and quantitative accuracy. The emerging photon-counting CT technology can overcome these limitations with its higher spatial resolution, lower image noise, and improved material-selective imaging.

To achieve the full potential of the technology, new image reconstruction methods need to be developed. Deep-learning-based image reconstruction, a new technology for image CT reconstruction, has demonstrated substantial image quality improvement and fast reconstruction. We will develop a deep-learning-based CT image reconstruction method for generating highly accurate photon counting images together with maps of image uncertainty, using a CT scanner prototype developed in our lab.

We will evaluate the usefulness of the new imaging technique for diagnosis and radiomic characterization of tumors. The anticipated outcome is that photon-counting spectral CT with deep-learning reconstruction can give drastically improved diagnostic quality and radiomic measurement accuracy without extra dose. This can lead to saved lives and new research avenues in the field of data-driven cancer diagnosis.

Awarded with Swedish Research Council's starting Grant within Natural and Engineering Sciences. MedTechLabs fellow, Jeroen Goos is awarded as a junior researcher to establish himself as independent researcher in Sweden. The 4-year grant amounts to SEK 4 000 000.

The grant is directed to the project “Tearing down the walls of brain cancer: delivery of radiopharmaceuticals across the blood-brain barrier”

One in three children that suffer from brain cancer dies before reaching adulthood. Standard treatment generally involves the opening of the skull for physical removal of the tumour, often in combination with several cycles of chemo- and/or radiotherapy. Brain surgery is highly invasive and comes with significant risks. Risks include bleeding or blood clots in the brain, swelling, memory problems, seizures, infections, stroke, coma and impaired speech, vision, coordination or balance. Furthermore, it is often difficult for a surgeon to identify where the tumour ends and healthy tissue begins. Surgery is only effective when the tumour is fully removed, since an incomplete resection will lead to relapse, and decreases the survival chances of a patient. In the current project, we are developing an innovative, non-surgical treatment strategy that minimises side effects with a substantial chance of significant tumour reduction or complete tumour elimination.

A promising non-surgical treatment strategy: endoradiotherapy

In the field of endoradiotherapy, tumour-targeting molecules such as antibodies or peptides are labelled with radioactive isotopes to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to a tumour. These radiolabelled molecules are injected into patients with cancer to bind to tumour cells and irradiate the tumour from within. With this treatment, the number and size of tumours can significantly be reduced, which has led to a remarkable increase in survival rates. A major limitation in the scope of brain cancer, however, is that standard endoradiotherapeutic agents cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This is a layer of tightly packed cells that separates the brain from the blood circulation to protect it from toxins and other pathogens. The first goal of this project is to design endoradiotherapeutic agents that can cross the BBB and target the brain tumour. As a first strategy, we are developing an innovative bispecific antibody that can be transported across the BBB to specifically bind to brain tumour cells. Here, we combine a tumour-targeting antibody with parts of a second antibody that enable transportation across the BBB. As a second strategy, we are using a peptide from scorpion venom, which is designed by nature to cross the BBB to target the central nervous system. In preclinical studies, this peptide has demonstrated an exceptionally high specificity for brain tumour cells.

Minimising side effects

Antibodies and peptides generally circulate in the body for multiple days. In the case of radiolabelled antibodies and peptides, this leads to undesirably high radiation doses to healthy tissues. Particularly in children, this may lead to significant side effects, such as impaired bone growth, calcium deficiency and toxicity to the haematopoietic system. The second goal of this project is to reduce side effects by separately injecting the bispecific antibody or peptide and the radioactive agent, which then chemically react to each other at the tumour site. The advantage of this pretargeting strategy is that long-circulating, unbound antibodies and peptides are cleared from the body before the radioactive agent is injected. This radioactive agent is cleared from the body rapidly, thereby minimising the radiation dose to healthy tissues. With this strategy, we aim to deliver a high therapeutic radiation dose to the brain tumour, while minimising the side effects caused by radiation to the rest of the body.

Innovative research

Our research integrates recent advances in radiology, oncology, chemistry and molecular biology into innovative research designs and novel treatment strategies. This project will open up new fields of research and allow children with brain cancer to benefit from the exceptional proven clinical advantages of endoradiotherapy, with minimal side effects. The newly designed methodologies and agents could lead to breakthroughs in key applications of fundamental, preclinical and clinical interest and change the way we approach illnesses of the brain.