Research at Oslo University Hospital

Mari Kaarbø, Group leader of the Virology Research Group, and collaborators report a case of sustained HIV remission following stem cell transplantation from a CCR5Δ32/Δ32 donor.

This paper describes a 63-year-old man living with HIV who received such a transplant from his brother to treat myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder. After the transplant, his blood and immune system were entirely replaced by his brother’s cells. Two years later, he stopped taking HIV medication.

Precision cancer medicine depends upon getting patients enrolled in the right clinical trials at the right time. A study led by Majd Abdallah and Macha Nikolski (CNRS, University of Bordeaux), in collaboration with Sigve Nakken and Eivind Hovig (Institute for Cancer Research), introduces TrialMatchAI — an AI-powered software system designed to automatically match cancer patients to relevant clinical trials.

The Innovation Award, organized annually by Inven2, seeks to showcase and reward the most innovative inventions from the brightest researchers. Inven2 aims to bridge the gap between research and the public, transforming cutting-edge ideas into products and services that benefit society.
If you are employed at the University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital or a hospital in the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority and have an invention, we invite you to participate in the Innovation Award. The winner receives 300 000 NOK, alongside expert guidance and support to help bring the invention to market.

Recommended sites for current OUS research news:

From Oslo University Hospital, in Norwegian:
OUS Innsikt – ny forskning, innovasjon og behandling - channel for science communication
More news from OUS (oslo-universitetssykehus.no)

From centres of excellence (UiO/OUS):
CanCell - Centre for Cancer Cell Reprogramming 
Cresco - Centre for Embryology and Healthy Development 
PRIMA - Precision Immunotherapy Alliance - Norwegian version
Hybrid Technology Hub - Centre for Organ on a Chip-Technology

In a newly published opinion article in Trends in Cell Biology, Tore Skotland and Kirsten Sandvig in CanCell and the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Institute for Cancer Research, discuss the assumptions made to reach the new membrane model.
They conclude that more studies are needed to verify whether the model is true for red blood cells. Moreover, they discuss the large difference in the lipid composition of red blood cells and the plasma membrane of other cells, making it unlikely that one membrane model fits all cell types.

Deo Prakash Pandey, leader of the "Targeting tumors of central nervous system" research group at the Department of Microbiology, and collaborators have identified a promising new therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor in adults.
Glioblastoma cells, particularly glioblastoma stem cells, rely on abnormally high transcriptional activity driven by neurodevelopmental transcription factors. The study shows that these stem cells are selectively vulnerable to inhibition of the transcriptional cyclin-dependent kinases CDK12 and CDK13, while inhibition of other transcriptional kinases such as CDK7 and CDK9 results in broader, non-specific toxicity.

Welcome to this meeting place where we want to inspire researchers and students, give them self-confidence and knowledge about the innovation process, help them build networks, and facilitate collaboration between academia and industry. This hangout is a collaboration between the UiO Growth House, Norway Health Tech and Health2B.

Time and place: Apr. 9, 2026 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Oslo Science Park, Forum auditorium

Complete information and registration form (med.uio.no)

The group of Dr. Pierre Chymkowitch (Dept. of Microbiology, OUS and IBV, UiO), and their collaborators at NCMBM and IMB, have made a step forward to understanding how fat cells keep their identity and can be reprogrammed. Published in Nucleic Acids Research, the work demonstrates that a brief pharmacological inhibition of SUMOylation using the small molecule TAK-981, when combined with the PPARG agonist rosiglitazone, stably "imprints" a beige differentiation fate in human adipose stem cells. Unlike typical white fat cells that store energy, beige cells can burn fat to generate heat through a process called adaptive thermogenesis or beiging.

There is a strong need for more high‑quality de-escalation studies in cancer to enable more personalized treatment and improve patients’ quality of life.
Kristin Austlid Taskén, at the Institute for Cancer Research, and Ieva Ailte at the European Cancer Collaboration Unit at OUS are coordinating and leading the Task for Cancer Research in Work Package 8 of the Joint Action European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres (JA EUnetCCC, 2024–2028). 

A podcast episode about the subject has recently (March 25th) been recorded, available from the Radforsk platform Radium at Spotify.