Covered by NRK Dagsrevyen: Johanna Olweus and her research group first in the Nordics to be on team selected for Cancer Grand Challenges funding
Cancer Grand Challenges (CGC) is a funding initiative announced every second year that is co-founded by the two largest funders of cancer research in the world - Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US - to come together, think differently and take on some of cancer’s toughest challenges. Five new global teams were recently selected to receive up to $25m (275 mill NOK) each over five years. Johanna Olweus and her research group, the Experimental Immunotherapy Group at the Department of Cancer Immunology, are partners of the MATCHMAKERS team, focussed on deciphering the T-cell receptor cancer-recognition code. This is the first time a Nordic scientist is part of a CGC team, and the news was covered by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).
The MATCHMAKERS team has some of the best scientists worldwide on board – in AI (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), genetics (Harvard University), structural immunology (Stanford University) and immunology (Netherlands Cancer Institute). The aim is to improve our understanding of what the immune system can recognize in cancer, and ultimately to make progress in the design of more efficacious cancer immunotherapies.
“I am very proud of my research team in Oslo and feel lucky to be working with such a wonderful group of dedicated scientists. I would also like to emphasize the great scientific environment in the Department of Cancer Immunology and at the Institute for Cancer Research,” says Olweus.
Links:
NRK Dagsrevyen, March 29 2024:
AI and Cancer Treatment: About the CGS funding of the MATCHMAKER project (10:44 into the broadcast)
Videos from Oslo University Hospital:
Johanna Olweus and the MATCHMAKERS (YouTube)
Johanna Olweus & The Matchmakers SHORTS (YouTube)
Cancer Grand Challenges: Home page
Five new teams (cancergrandchallenges.org)
MATCHMAKERS. Challenge: Decipher the T-cell receptor cancer-recognition code (cancergrandchallenges.org)
The Experimental Immunotherapy Group, headed by Johanna Olweus
The Department of Cancer Immunology
The Institute for Cancer Research
Group member overview