ĚÇĐÄÍřŇł°ć

20 November 2025

Researchers at ĚÇĐÄÍřŇł°ć will share SEK 12 million for new projects to improve treatment and quality of life for cancer patients. One of them is Henrik Green, who researches how genetic differences between patients can affect how they react to cancer treatment.

Photographer: Emma Busk Winquist

In 2025, the Swedish Cancer Society will give more than SEK 1 billion to Swedish cancer research, the largest amount ever, according to their press release.
One of the projects receiving funding is led by Professor Henrik Green, professor at the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV), who researches how genetic differences between patients can affect reactions to cancer treatment. The aim is to be able to predict which patients are at risk of severe side effects of chemotherapy, to achieve more accurate and gentle treatment.

“Everyone reacts differently to cancer treatment. Some people can manage chemotherapy without problems, while others suffer life-threatening side effects after the first course of treatment. The goal is to be able to adapt doses and treatment based on each individual’s genetic profile,” says Henrik Green.

Personalised treatment

Green’s research team will sequence patients’ DNA and use AI to build models that can identify which patients are most at risk of side effects. By combining genetic information with laboratory studies, they hope to create models to be used directly in health care. For this purpose, they now receive SEK 3 million from the Swedish Cancer Society.
“This project is a clear example of how research can make health care more individualised. Being able to predict which patients are at risk of severe side effects will ensure that more people get the right treatment from the start – with better results and quality of life,” says Professor Malin Sund, Chair of the Swedish Cancer Society’s Research Board.

SEK 12 million to BKV’s research

Other than Henrik Green, three researchers at the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences receive funding from the Swedish Cancer Society for their research projects:

  • Judith Arvelund receives funding for the project Virus-based immunotherapy for the treatment of lymphomas – Characterizing tissue-specific resistance mechanisms.
  • Anna Fahlgren, for the project The role of shear stress in promoting secondary metastases of bone-metastatic breast cancer to the lung and liver.
  • Johanna Ungerstedt, for the project Indepth molecular characterization of genotype, phenotype and microenvironment in Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia to delineate disease onset mechanisms and the role of chronic inflammation.

Researchers who receive grants from the Swedish Cancer Society

En person i labbrock som hĂĄller i en flaska.

AI provides a more precise time of death

Artificial intelligence can be used to provide a more precise time of death, which can be crucial in e.g. murder investigations. The AI model is trained on so-called metabolites in thousands of blood samples from real deaths.

Man wearing a lab coat holds a test tube containing two green pills.

From lab to legislation – the fight against new online drugs

A new drug on the European market – every week. Professor Henrik Green is using research to help government agencies stop the most dangerous online drugs more quickly.

Henrik Green.

Nerve damage from cancer treatment can be predicted

Many women treated for breast cancer using taxanes, a type of cytostatic drug, often experience side effects in the nervous system. Researchers at LiU have developed a tool that can predict the risk level for each individual.

Latest news from LiU

En grupp människor som sitter vid ett bord framför en folkmassa.

Participants in UN climate meetings want greater focus on implementation

UN climate negotiations are often criticised for moving too slowly. A new study published in Nature Climate Change examines what changes government delegates and other participants at the COP29 UN climate conference would like to see.

Neil Lagali vid utrustning för att undersöka ögonen.

Eye problems after COVID-19 can now be explained

Mild COVID-19 can cause severe and long-lasting eye problems, according to a study from LiU. The study also explains why it has been difficult for sufferers to get help: the abnormal eye behaviour cannot be detected by standard methods.

A woman kneeling down in a garden picking plants.

When soil becomes data – how digitalisation affects knowledge of soil health

How do we know whether soil is healthy? A new study from ĚÇĐÄÍřŇł°ć shows that as knowledge about soil is increasingly translated into digital data, important insights about its biological life and local context risk being overlooked.