Research Projects

PDO 58

Our research aims at closing clinically important gaps through the identification of new molecular determinants of breast cancer progression and resistance to nonadjuvant treatment that can be utilized as therapeutic and prognostic biomarkers to improve patient care and outcomes. We seek to evaluate and, thus potentially deliver, novel diagnostic platforms for capturing molecular signatures for downstream clinical-decision making.  In addition, we investigate novel compounds/drugs and their combinations with radiotherapy that can be used in the future to better treat breast cancer patients. Overall, our research intends to bring breast cancer care closer to the desired goal of Precision Oncology, especially applicable for such a heterogeneous disease as breast cancer. To this end our research has the following main areas of focus:

  • Understanding mechanisms of resistance and sensitivity to radiotherapy in breast cancer and developing novel clinical biomarkers.

  • Testing novel drugs and their combinations in preclinical breast cancer models, including patient derived organoids.

  • Understanding the mechanisms of breast cancer progression and resistance to treatment using cutting edge spatial omics technologies, such as transcriptomics, proteomics and multiomics.

  • Studies of immune tumour microenvironment in the mechanisms of development, progression and treatment resistance of breast cancer.

 

Research Technology

Spatial Omics

TMA HnE to IF

We use cutting edge spatial omics technology to map out the genetic changes of mutlple cell types in the tumour microenvironment on a single cell level.

Patient Derived Organoids

pdo

We culture patient derived breast cancer cells as 3D organoids to better represent the cell-to-cell interactions that occur in vivo. This also enables us to investigate the response to treatment on an individual patient sample.

CRISPR-Cas9 gene knock out

We investigate the role of specific genes by silencing them using the CRISPR-Cas9 method, a very specific and efficient means of knocking out a gene and looking for downstream consequences in TNBC cancer cells.