Research description
I am working at Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MEB), Karolinska Institutet, as a senior researcher with a focus on cancer genomics.
I have established a sample- and analysis procedure that serves biomarker driven randomized clinical trials. The procedure makes use of available infrastructures and encompass reception and storage of biomaterial, subsequent processing for Illumina sequencing and analysis using an in-house developed bioinformatics pipeline and curation software.
The sample- and analysis procedure has been in prospective use since 2016 and handled samples from ~50 hospitals in 6 European countries.
Continuous assay- and informatics development is essential to ensure that state of the art profiling is available for the clinical trials we are running. My team is therefore devoted to pushing the boundaries of assay development and incorporating new knowledge generated from other research groups into our infrastructure. We were first to develop an assay capable of identifying the microsatellite instability phenotype by analysis of dying cancer cell DNA debris extracted from plasma (circulating tumor DNA). In addition, the androgen receptor is the key transcription factor in metastatic prostate cancer. Treatment targeting the androgen receptor gives rise to multiple types of somatic perturbations associated with poor prognosis. These have commonly been investigated individually in retrospective studies with doubtful clinical utility. Therefore we have established a comprehensive liquid biopsy profile investigating all types of somatic perturbations simultaneously and found that multi-level profiling of the androgen receptor is required for improved patient stratification.
My team consist of four bioinformaticians, one software developer, three computational biologists, three research engineers and one postdoc. We are currently responsible for prospective genomic profiling in several projects including:
ALASCCA – Adjuvant Låg dos ASA vid Colorektal Cancer
ALASCCA (responsible PI: Anna Martling) is a randomized clinical trial investigating the effect of adjuvant aspirin treatment of PI3K mutated localized colorectal cancer. Patients were included from a network of >30 hospitals in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. Inclusion was initiated in the fall of 2016 and is now closed. In total, 3794 study participants were sequenced by my team. The primary objective and endpoint will be analyzed during 2024.
ProBio – Prostate Biomarkers
ProBio (main PI: Henrik Grönberg) is an adaptive, biomarker driven randomized randomized clinical trial addressing the unmet need for treatment predictive biomarkers in advanced prostate cancer. ProBio is currently including patients from nation-wide networks of hospitals in Sweden, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland. Due to the difficulty of obtaining metastatic biopsies in metastatic prostate cancer we developed a circulating tumor DNA sequencing profile tailored for advanced prostate cancer that is being applied in ProBio. Additional information is available at the ProBio website.
iPCM - implementation of Personalized Cancer Medicine
The goal of the iPCM project is to transfer an existing research setup, enabling broad genomic profiling of cancer, into clinical routine and to simultaneously address unsolved research questions. In iPCM we aim to analyse approximately 2000 study participants with newly diagnosed metastatic solid cancer, treated at either Karolinska Hospital, St Göran or Södersjukhuset. The genomic profiles will be made available in a database for oncologists at the Center for Clinical Cancer Studies, Karolinska Hospital. The purpose of the database is to facilitate patient access to clinical trials.
The iPCM project is done in close collaboration with Felix Haglund (clinical pathology and onkpat), Päivi Östling (onkpat), David Tamborero (onkpat) and the network of researchers and clinicians participating in the Personalised Cancer Medicine Program (PCM) at Karolinska Institutet, see website.
PSFF - Pre-screening for phase I clinical trials
PSFF is a pilot project with the goal to establish a routine molecular screening program for patients with advanced cancer referred to at the Center for Clinical Cancer Studies at Karolinska Hospital. We have currently analyzed over 300 study participants using prospective broad panel sequencing of circulating tumor DNA.
As iPCM, the PSFF project is conducted in close collaboration with the visionary leadership of the PCM program.
Teaching portfolio
I am teaching whenever I get the chance with a focus on cancer genomics and bioinformatics. I am responsible for the annual course Clinical Cancer Genomics (nr 5534).
Education
- 2003 Master of Science in Engineering Biology, Umeå University, Umeå.
- 2008 PhD in Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.