The Swedish Cancer Society grants SEK 12 million to research at the Faculty of Pharmacy

The Swedish Cancer Society has announced its largest allocation of grants to date, distributing over SEK 1 billion kronor to Swedish research. With Uppsala University ranking among the top awardees, a total of SEK 12 million is allocated to Irena Loryan, Sara Mangsbo, Ola Spjuth and Ola Söderberg at the Faculty of Pharmacy.

“The Swedish Cancer Society's announcement clearly confirms the high quality of research that our groups deliver. It is a strong testament to both our scientific expertise and our ability to address important societal challenges. I am very proud of the breadth and excellence that our faculty continues to demonstrate," states Dean Mathias Hallberg.

Irena Loryan, Associate Professor with a focus on Translational Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, receives SEK 3 million for her project Validation of Serum Neurofilament Light Chain for Early Detection and Therapeutic Evaluation in PaclitaxelInduced Peripheral Neuropathy. With this grant, paid out in 2026-2028, Irena's team will study the blood marker sNfL with the aim to enable early identification of patients at risk of developing Hand-Foot Syndrome during cancer treatment with Paclitaxel.

“In this project, we will also study other potential therapies. Overall, I am convinced that we will contribute highly relevant results to cancer care, and it feels wonderful that the Swedish Cancer Society is giving us the opportunity to continue our work," says Irena Loryan at the Department of Pharmacy.

Sara Mangsbo, Professor of Protein and Antibody Drugs, is awarded SEK 3 million for her project PREMetastatic Niche Evaluation and Validation of Emerging Novel Treatments. This work aims to map the possibility to use immunotherapy to reduce the risk of invasive growth of cancer cells in the muscle layer surrounding the bladder. In parallel, the team will continue their development of the unique technology to deliver drugs to cells that they recently presented in Nature Communications.

“We have previously had a three-year grant from the Swedish Cancer Society, which is now extended and enables us to boldly explore new, uncharted territories. We really value the Swedish Cancer Society’s strong emphasis on patient benefit and involvement, which strengthens the connection between research and care recipients, helping us better understand their journey and needs. This makes us better researchers and inspires clinically relevant questions, which are just some of the many remarkable aspects of the Swedish Cancer Society’s work,” states Sara Mangsbo.

At the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Ola Spjuth, Professor of Pharmaceutical Bioinformatics, receives SEK 3 million kronor for his project Phenomics and AI for Cancer Mechanism Discovery, Resistance Mapping, and Drug Combination Screening. Ola Söderberg, Professor of Pharmaceutical Cell Biology, is also awarded SEK 3 million for his study The role of single-stranded DNA breaks in regulation of gene expression.

“This is a project where we will apply Sloppymerase, the artificial and error-prone enzyme we have developed to map single-strand breaks in DNA that we presented in Nature Communications earlier this year. It is a tool that offers several areas of use, including the potential to provide us with new knowledge about basically all diseases caused by incorrect gene expression, says Ola Söderberg.

Our congratulations to Irena Loryan, Sara Mangsbo, Ola Spjuth and Ola Söderberg. Also, our sincere thanks to the Swedish Cancer Society and all donors for their invaluable support. Relevant results will follow.

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt a o